A Modest Proposal
by Jupiter's Promise
Summary: They were happy together. It was only natural that Quistis would decide to pop the question. Little does she know that news travels fast on the GF gossip mill, and with a little help from Shiva, Squall is determined to beat her to it. Quall.
1. The Lion and Winter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters. I am grateful for the opportunity to borrow this wonderful universe the people at Square have created.**

**Chapter 1: The Lion and Winter**

Today was an office day.

Squall Leonhart loved his job, he really did, but the office days still made him tempted to tell Cid where he could shove it. Of course being the commander of SeeD had its perks, including living quarters with a closet the size of his old dorm room, as well as the authority to assign cadets to track down the latest gunblade upgrade items.

Still, sometimes he wished he could summon those cadets into his office, introduce them to a stack of contracts that needed reviewing, and head out to whatever remote island was home to the bizarre creature he needed claws from himself.

Of course, if he did that, Quistis wouldn't speak to him for a week, mostly because she'd be irritated that he'd thought of it first and then neglected to take her along. She did love a good remote island, and Save the Queen was as demanding a mistress as Lionheart. It was so nice to finally have someone who understood…

_**Are you capable of going ten minutes without a sentimental monologue running through your head? You aren't the only one who has to live in here…**_

Squall made no sign he'd noticed the foreign intellect which entered his mind like a cool whisper. By now, the thread of Shiva's consciousness was so neatly woven among his thoughts and fears and memories that her presence was as familiar as any of them.

_**She loves you, you know. I had always suspected, but I did a bit of investigating the last time she equipped me just to be sure, and I'm quite certain now that I was right.**_

Squall smiled inwardly, which he knew was the only kind she could see, and allowed his mind to wander from the page before him.

_I don't think Ifrit would be amused to learn that you were snooping around in his territory. _

He felt her sniff indignantly.

_**As if the horned one's displeasure might give me pause. I am subtle and cunning and he is a great brute, announcing his presence like a firecracker wherever he goes. Her taste in guardians is lacking, however irreproachable her taste in partners may be. **_

_She hardly had a choice on the guardian front. I wasn't about to give up one so subtle and cunning._

A slight arctic wind affectionately tousled his locks, and Squall shook his head, turning his attention back to the contract before him. Shiva, however, had no intention of allowing it to stray for long.

_**You love her too, though she does not fully comprehend how much.**_

Squall sighed, his pen hovering over the spot his eyes had just left. Like him, Shiva had a tendency to get antsy on office days, but lately she'd been working on a project of her own devising, attempting to retrieve some of the memories her presence had seemingly obliterated from his mind, and it usually kept her at least somewhat engaged.

Not that he could begrudge her her boredom, but he had a pile of papers he needed to move through if he wanted to be out of here by dinner, and he wasn't even sure what she was getting at. Yes, he loved Quistis and she loved him too. It was as simple as that.

Of course he had still managed to bungle it for an unforgivably long time, but they had gotten through that, and now things were good. In fact, he honestly couldn't remember being happier, and he was pretty confident it had nothing to do with his extensive use of Guardian Forces.

Dismissing Shiva's unusually dogged talkativeness, he renewed his efforts to proceed down the page before him. Suddenly, he felt his body stiffen and the pen fell from his rigid fingers, rolling off the desk and hitting the carpet with a soft thud.

It seemed Shiva was determined not to be ignored. Their uniquely intuitive bond meant she could be summoned in battle near instantly, and during one harrowing day when he'd been inches from death, they had accidentally learned that with enough effort on her part she could actually traverse their connection herself, and come without his call.

Of course, as with any summoning, it left him utterly prone and unable to command his body, locked in his mind just as she often was.

She leaned across the desk before him, and stared into his vacant eyes.

"I am trying to converse with you, if you hadn't noticed," she said. She retained a connection to his mind, and though nothing happened when he ordered his mouth to scowl in her direction, she nonetheless got the message, and proceeded to ignore it.

"I am curious as to when you were intending to follow up on that inkling you have to propose to her."

Trapped in his mind, Squall sulked. Like a fish out of water, she could only remain in on the mortal plane so long before needing to retreat back to his mind and recoup.

"Come now, stubborn boy, you know I can sustain this form far longer when I have no need to do battle. Satisfy me and I will return to you your body," she said, the moisture in the air around her lips icing over as she spoke.

_Things are going well. I don't see any reason to mess with them. And besides, what's got you so suspicious about my love life all of a sudden?_

Shiva chose to ignore his question. There was a time when she'd chafed at the other's growing prominence in Squall's mental landscape, but Quistis was someone she'd fought beside, someone she'd shared mental quarters with, and ultimately Shiva found that she approved of the affect the woman had on her master's mind.

Quistis had a way of melding onto the frayed bits when they became evident, rather than fussing over them as the former girl had done. And Quistis had frayed bits of her own, which made Shiva sure she had no small understanding of them.

"Such was your attitude when your friendship blossomed. Had she not been determined enough to push the issue herself, you'd still be contenting yourself just short of intimacy," Shiva pointed out.

_If she wasn't that determined, we'd never have ended up together anyway. And besides, no one ever accused me of being emotionally adventurous, least of all Quistis. You know I've thought about proposing to her, but I'm happy, and she's happy, and I'm not inclined to risk that just yet, however small the risk may be. After all, what's the rush?_

Shiva regarded him silently for a moment, and he saw thoughts churning behind her countenance like frigid water below a layer of ice. She glided around the desk without a word and soon he could feel her presence behind him, though he could not turn to regard her.

Suddenly, he felt her whisper into his ear, almost as though she was back in his head.

"I was hesitating to reveal this to you, but it seems you must know. Your beloved grows tired of waiting, as she did before. Diablos has spoken to me of this, and it seems she has decided to take matters into her own hands again."

With that, Squall felt a sudden chill rush though his body, and he knew that the next time he asked, his limbs would obey him.

An unexpected warmth bubbled up on the heels of Shiva's cool reentry, as he contemplated this revelation she had imparted. But it was followed closely by a more sober afterthought. In his heart of hearts, Squall had always intended to be the one to propose to her.

It wasn't that he labored under any strict notion of masculinity which prevented him from tolerating a woman taking the lead. No, Rinoa had effectively quashed any tendencies of that kind long ago.

Still, even he was aware of certain insecurities which were harbored among Quistis' abiding affections for him. It seemed she had never forgotten that, while first to his side, she had been second to his heart.

Though he had endeavored with his unyielding devotion to never allow the cracks in her faith to expand by even a sliver, the original persistent ones defied his efforts. Their continued presence was a frustration, and he had come to hope that proposing to her might be the one curaga which could amend the cracks as seamlessly as if they'd never been there.

And besides, the resolute part of him, the proud part of him, was telling him that this was something he needed to do for himself as well, something he'd left to others for far too long.

Still, this had never caused him to be in any hurry. The situation seemed to have stabilized and his tendency to put off emotional confrontations had kept his concerns at bay.

Shiva was hovering just above his thoughts, monitoring them and displaying her approval by keeping her silence. The contract rested forgotten in his hand while the pen bided its time at his feet.

_So what now? If she's already intent on proposing there's not much I can do. I'm not just going to burst into her office and blurt it out then and there just to beat her to the punch._

_**Nor should you. Though you would undoubtedly do a perfectly adequate job, you might also suffer a nervous breakdown before you could arrive at her door. Already your heart races at the very thought of it. And regardless, she deserves better than a hasty, thrown-together proposal.**_

Shiva was pleased with how quickly Squall considered this once it was all before him and arrived at the proper resolution, given that she'd been pushing him towards it all afternoon.

_I need time to think about how I'm going to do this._

_**Then we shall work together to buy you that time. For you, and for her. I shall speak with Diablos and see if he cannot persuade her to delay, but I little doubt that if she has made up her mind, she will follow through. Though we will offer aid as we can, it will be up to you to sidestep any potential proposals the meantime.**_

Squall nodded in the empty office.

_If she asks, I will not refuse her._

_**Then ensure that she does have the chance before you are ready. You will have the upper hand, for you have seen all the cards in play. Consider carefully your course, but do not tarry long in indecision.**_

And with that, he felt her slip from his mind, winging towards the immortal plane where Diablos was undoubtedly waiting.

Just then, a sharp knock sounded against his door.

_Come in_ he thought idly as he reached down to collect his pen, only to have a second insistent knock remind him that he was no longer in the company of telepathic immortals.

"Come in," he tried again, rising up behind his desk.

In bustled Xu, loaded down with a stack of papers.

"Was someone just in here?" she asked, looking about the room as if somebody might step out from behind the bookshelf at any moment. He responded in the best way he could think to, which was to look at her like she was crazy.

"I just…" she began. He intensified his look of perplexity. She took one more glance around the room.

"Never mind…anyway, these are the applications for the teaching position. The transfers are the blue, the promotions are the white, and the goldenrod ones are outside candidates. Cid was hoping you'd have a chance to review them one more time before tomorrow morning's meeting," she explained.

Squall eyed the colorful stack warily before sighing and gesturing for her to leave them on his desk. And she was coming over to do just that when suddenly she jumped.

"What happened to your carpet?" she asked dubiously, looking down at her feet.

Squall stood and walked around the desk to see what _had_ happened to his carpet. Sure enough, there in front of his desk was a sizable dark spot where the carpet was soaked with what he was sure was icy water.

He shrugged and Xu shook her head in disbelief. She was about to place the papers on his desk when she froze and did another double take. There on its surface was a pair of twin puddles, which Squall suspected were roughly the size of Shiva's outstretched hands. He made a mental note to chastise her about leaving ice all over his office to melt.

Once he'd managed to convince Xu that he'd been too deeply buried in his work to notice what was obviously a sizable water leak in the ceiling above his desk and assured her that the applications would be both safe and thoroughly reviewed if she left them on his bookshelf, Squall thanked her and ushered her out the door, pulling it gently closed behind her.

He walked back to his chair and sat, staring into space and reconsidering the world in light of what he had just learned.

Then he rose and went to the bathroom to collect some paper towels to dry his desk. The commander could already feel the adrenaline rushing to his aid, the anxiousness to attain the objective he coveted. Paperwork could wait. For a SeeD, the mission trumped all.

o-O-o

The next day, Squall sat behind his desk, riding high on a breeze of confidence.

Shiva had returned the night before with promises of Diablos' complicity, and though he hadn't yet decided how he wanted his proposal to go, the mission had been smooth sailing so far.

While he'd initially been cautious about going home at the end of the day to the private quarters he and Quistis shared, the whole night had been spent reviewing the applications for the meeting the following morning.

With the first rays of the sun they'd collapsed onto the couch, her head pillowed in his chest, to catch a precious few hours of sleep. With this, he had counted his first day a success.

The morning had been uneventful as well. Other than the pathetic murmur war they'd staged upon awakening over who got to take the first shower and who had to make the coffee, they'd exchanged little in the way of words.

When he'd handed her a steaming mug, she'd planted a lethargic, grateful kiss directly onto his scowl, her face and lips still wet, and that was it. The familiar smell of her apple shampoo had lingered as he'd headed to the bathroom.

And now here he was, back in his office. He'd survived the meeting about the teaching candidates and was fairly well pleased with the progression of his mission thus far.

The click of familiar boots told him she was coming, and he lifted his eyes to face her as she came through the door.

"So, what about those candidates?" she said, leaning over his desk in a mirror of Shiva's posture from the day before.

"There are some strong transfers. I know Cid wants to promote someone from within, but that's no reason to pass on the better candidate."

"True enough, though for an instructor rapport with the students and familiarity with the system can be important indicators of performance. And besides, an impressive background as a SeeD doesn't necessarily translate into an ability to instruct, as you and I well know…"

He raised his eyebrow and she smiled to reassure him that she spoke in jest, rather than bitterness.

"I don't know…I still like Arden," Squall replied.

"She certainly knows how to swing that sword around, as if you cared about anything else."

Elise Arden was an expert duelist, and her rapier was legendary among her peers in Galbadia. Why she would be interested in a teaching position in Balamb was as yet unknown, though Irvine had heard rumor of some sort of a scandal that had never reached the official level.

Still, it had been some time since Balamb had had a sword instructor of any kind, let alone one of this caliber, and Squall had made his support for her selection known from the start. He was tired of pinch hitting with students who wanted to use a sword but didn't have the discipline or skill to wield a gunblade.

"And Xu tells me you managed to get a massive leak in your office. It's a lucky thing she came in here or you'd have been up to your nose in water before you ever noticed," Quistis continued, glancing up to his ceiling.

_**What is she talking about?**_

_I'll tell you later._

"They came to repair it, but they couldn't find the source."

"A leak that sprung from nowhere and vanished as quickly as it came?" She looked incredulous.

He shrugged, "I stopped assuming I understood this garden years ago when we found out it had an obese yellow financier and a propulsion system."

She laughed, and flashed him another smile, "You're in an oddly good mood this morning given how little sleep you got last night. Walk with me to lunch?"

Squall felt Shiva tense within him and carefully considered his best course.

"I have a few things to finish up first," he said, vaguely indicating his computer screen, "Why don't you go ahead with Xu and I'll meet you there?"

"We can wait," she said, heading for the door before he could protest, "Oh, and Ifrit says Shiva should ease up on the smugness— he can smell it all the way from the immortal plane, and he knows she's up to something."

Squall stared at the door as it closed behind her, face paling, his head reeling both with the anticipation of his first possible challenge and Shiva's outraged ranting.

Still, if there was one thing Squall Leonhart knew, it was that he'd never gotten where he was by insisting on ideal situations. It was his ability to navigate the non-ideal and the unexpected that had gotten him out of tight spots again and again.

And this situation would be no different. Once he had settled the indignant GF he rose, and followed Quistis out the door.

Sure enough, as he stepped into the outer room where Xu's desk was located, both women ceased conversing immediately.

"Ready to go?" Quistis asked.

"Xu, are you ready?"

"Oh no, I have a few things to finish up first. Why don't you two go ahead and I'll meet you there?"

Great, had it sounded that lame when he'd said it?

_**Yes**_, Shiva grumbled from somewhere in the back of his mind.

Quistis nodded agreeably and he noted that the women exchanged one more not-so-subtle round of smiles before they went on their way. All his training had prepared him for this moment. He was ready.

Her heels clicked their way along the corridor towards the elevator.

"Shall we check and see if Cid wants to come along?" Squall offered.

"You know Cid never eats in the cafeteria. Especially not on Hot Dog Thursday."

Shoot, he'd forgotten about that- _this just gets better and better…._

_**You'd better hope ink-face is bouncing off the walls vigorously enough to cause a distraction.**_

_Damn it Shiva, settle down- you're making me nervous! Besides, things are going fine. We don't even have any reason to think that she's going to say anything at this point._

The ding of the elevator brought him out of his thoughts.

"Squall, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about,"

_**HA**_

_What did Ifrit tell you about being smug?_

"What are your thoughts about this relationship? Are you happy with the way things are going?"

Squall deliberately stared at the emergency evacuation procedure sign posted on the wall, noting that one of its bulleted instructions was not to take the elevator in an emergency under any circumstances.

"Of course. It's good," he replied.

"Have you thought at all about where things might be headed? You know, what's next for us?"

"Yeah, I guess."

She waited for him to elaborate, but he took the opportunity to panic instead.

"And?" she finally asked.

"We…should get a dog- er, a cat."

She glanced at him in confusion but he didn't happen to meet her eyes.

"No, I-"

"Alright, a dog if that's what you really want," he continued. The elevator dinged as they arrived on the ground floor.

"I wasn't talking about that. I was thinking more in terms of us specifically…" she trailed off and he didn't say anything. He felt like an ass. It was almost unnerving how easily this type of behavior came back to him.

And then they arrived at the cafeteria, and blessed relief was his. But she deliberately paused at the door, and he couldn't bring himself to just keep walking. He finally looked her in the eyes, and saw that she had adopted a somewhat perplexed expression. She studied him for a moment.

"We'd better get in there and grab some hot dogs before Zell eats them all," he offered.

"Good plan," she agreed, shaking the expression from her face, "I'd like to continue this conversation later. What do you say to dinner in Balamb tonight?"

_**NO NO NO**_

"On a Thursday night?"

"I know it's a weeknight and we haven't been getting much sleep, but it would mean a lot to me."

_**NO NO NO**_

"Alright…"

_What else could I say?_ he hissed at the GF who was burying her head in her hands. He could feel the mission slipping. He had to think up a plan and fast.

And then opportunity walked up sporting a yellow sundress and severely bobbed hair.

"…Yes, I think dinner in Balamb tonight is a great idea," he said, his voiced hovering a decibel higher than its usual place. Opportunity took the bait.

"HEYA! Did I hear you two are grabbing dinner in Balamb tonight? Oh, can Irvy and I come with you? We haven't been to town in forever- everyone's been busy with the hiring thing, and Irvy's been commuting to Galbadia to help them train that new sniper, who by the way is a total ditz-"

"Selphie," Quistis interrupted her, "I was thinking it would be more like a date…"

"Oh, I understand," Selphie winked conspiratorially, "double dates are the best! I'll tell Irvy to dress up and I'll have to find something myself. I know the best place too! Let's say meet at 6:30 tonight in the garage. Look sharp!"

With that, she skipped off into the cafeteria, pleased that she'd solved everyone's dilemma so neatly.

Quistis sighed and Squall, feeling a twinge of guilt not only for his role in thwarting her but also for the relief he felt even now, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh well," she muttered, leaning against his shoulder resignedly. Together, they headed in to the cafeteria.

_**You are exceedingly lucky**_.

_I recognize opportunity when I see it. Nothing more to it than that._

_o-O-o  
_

**A/N: Hello there. Are you another person who actually still cares about FFVIII and/or Squall and Quistis? Are there actually any of you left out there? If you've read this far, would you please hit that little review button and leave a comment? It means so much just to know I'm not sending this out into the void (unless you're Exdeath, in which case I am surprised that you are a Quall fan). I'll be sure to respond to each and every one, assuming there are any, and maybe then I'll be tempted to continue this little monstrosity…**

**On another self-promotional note, if you liked this story and you're interested in reading more Quall by me, check out my one-shot 'A Lifetime of Moments'. It's not strictly set in this same universe as this one, but it's pretty compatible. You might want to avoid the other ones I've written. They're a bit…old.**

**Thank you for reading. Again, please review! (:**

**-JP**


	2. Dreams Deferred, Dreams Denied

**Chapter 2: Dreams Deferred, Dreams Denied**

Quistis gazed blankly at her semiformal dresses. A dozen suitable things in a variety of colors, and yet she stared on, feeling rather like she had nothing to wear.

The engagement ring in her uniform pocket grazed against her knuckle, but she ignored it. After all, she wouldn't have any use for it tonight.

_**Why so morose, little apple? Your plans are but a little deferred. That is no reason not to enjoy your evening.**_

She sighed and nodded, making the effort to pull out a red sleeve before rejecting it. Ifrit might call her apple, but it had nothing to do with her color and everything to do with her shampoo.

_Any ideas?_

The GF was silent for a moment.

_**The third from the left- it smells like Thursday.**_

Bringing the hem of the dress to her nose, Quistis smelled it. Thursday smelled vaguely like cinnamon, she decided.

She had forgotten that the burning yellow orbs of Ifrit's eyes were actually rather poor at perceiving color and motion. Instead, his world was navigated and colored by a rich palate of smells. When he was in her mind, he could see through her eyes, but he still chose to regard the world largely in terms of its aroma.

_Diablos, would you like to offer an opinion?_

_**He is absent. He has been absent much lately. He is up to something.**_

_Ifrit, don't be so paranoid. You were just saying the same thing about Shiva this morning._

"The blue one." The pronouncement interrupted her thoughts just as Squall passed through towards his side of the closet. It could hardly have been a coincidence.

Quistis raised an eyebrow, giving the blue one a second look. Not only were he and Ifrit the last two people she expected clothing advice from, but interestingly, they had both chosen the same dress.

_**You see? Even Shiva's boy agrees. He has a better nose than I gave him credit for.**_

"Oh? Why that one?" she asked, fairly certain Ifrit was giving Squall's nose more credit than it deserved.

"Eyes," he replied, pulling a white, button-down shirt off a nearby hanger and slinging it over his shoulders.

She scoffed and turned to him, hands on her hips, "My eyes are decidedly _not_ that shade of blue."

He was too busy fussing with how his shirt sat to reply. With an exaggerated sigh, Quistis crossed over to him and pulled the fabric straight, settling it flat across his shoulders. Then she took the crisp edges of the collar that stood haphazardly around his neck and neatly folded them down.

He gave her a smile— a small smile, but an easy smile— and pulled her into an embrace which she returned, slipping her hands past the unbuttoned flaps and lacing them between the small of his back and the silk of his shirt.

Their eyes met, and he looked at her squarely, taking in the aquamarine depths. Then he kissed her forehead, and her eyelids fluttered shut, and he kissed each one of them, followed by the tip of her nose, and finally, her lips.

"Not yours. Mine," he whispered against them, and she opened her eyes only to see his sliding open as well. Just as he said, steel blue, like the dress. It was odd that she'd never noticed it before. It was odder still that he had.

She allowed herself to bask in the tenderness for a moment, gathering it like the drops of a rain that seldom fell. There was always enough to sustain her, but never so much that it lost its preciousness.

"Alright then," she conceded, "but that means I get to choose your tie tonight."

He shrugged, and reached over to open the drawer where he kept his ties, pulling it out completely so every corner of it was clearly visible.

"Black, or blue?"

oOo

The sound of their steps echoed loudly through the abandoned parking garage. It was 6:25, and their patron god of punctuality would have been pleased.

Unbelievably, Irvine and Selphie were already waiting for them, Selphie spinning the keys in her hand.

"Well hog-tie me and shoot me three ways from Sunday, I must've died and gone to heaven with all the pretty ladies that keep showin' up," Irvine gave Quistis a gallant smile and took her hand to kiss it. He had donned a smart looking suit and tie, though the familiar hat remained on his head.

"You look great, Quisty! And you even got Squall to dress up," Selphie cooed, an emerald colored dress swaying down to just below her knees, "I love those earring too."

"Thank you, they were a gift from Squall," Quistis replied, pretending not to notice the betrayed look he shot her.

"Finally learned a thing or two about how to treat a lady, eh Leonhart? Quistis, bein' his teacher, I'm sure you educated Squall on plenty of things, but _that_ is your crowning achievement," Irvine teased.

Quistis chuckled, "I don't know, you would've been amazed at how long we had to work on casting curative spells…"

"Ha, no surprise there. Far as I know, he still doesn't know how!"

Squall folded his arms and gave Irvine a dirty look, "I'll remember that next time I find a grat mopping the floor of the training center with your face. And as for the earrings, they give her a sizable stat bonus…"

Irvine laughed heartily and headed in the direction of the car, calling back as he went, "Stat bonus, eh? Is that what they're calling it these days?"

Quistis and Selphie joined in the laughter and Squall followed, rolling his eyes, wondering if perhaps he should have just let Quistis take him out to dinner alone after all.

oOo

Quistis felt Squall's palm come to rest on the small of her back and she turned away from Selphie just in time to stop herself and the woman beside her. A waiter bustled across their path, his tray laden with dishes. The hand lingered there as they continued towards their table.

Squall was still reserved, extremely so in public, but such subtle actions were not so uncommon these days. He still balked at the lingering public kissing and spinning hugs Irvine and Selphie were known to be fond of, but then again most people did, and she found she was quite satisfied contemplating a future in which that was unlikely to change.

She wondered sometimes if one of the things Rinoa had been frustrated by was that dead end— that she could only push him so far in the direction of public affection. Regarding the affection part, Quistis had to admit, the brunette had succeeded admirably.

But regarding the public part, Quistis wasn't even sure Rinoa had ever fully understood what she was up against. Beyond his self-repression, beyond his tendency for coldness, Squall remained an extremely private person. Rinoa may have taught him to love, but he still did it in his own way, which had ultimately afforded little consolation.

_To each her own_, she thought, enjoying the gentle weight of his hand on her back as much as Selphie seemed to be enjoying Irvine picking her up from behind and carrying her over to the table, though significantly less vocally.

They settled into their seats, Selphie pulling her over to sit beside her on 'the girls' side of the table'.

"Man, are you sure there isn't room for one more over there?" Irvine asked, waggling his eyebrow.

Squall pushed him into the far chair and took his seat beside him.

"So, how have you both been? I heard you finally bought that place in Trabia," Quistis began.

"Yeah, we'd been talking about it forever, and now we can finally visit my friends without having to stay in the guest quarters! And it has such an amazing view of the mountains. You guys absolutely have to come along next time we go. There's a plenty of space." Selphie was starry eyed.

"We'd love to," Quistis smiled, taking a sip from her water, "as soon as we can convince Cid to give all of us leave together."

"Aw, come on, I'm sure he couldn't take the pressure if the Commander and his beautiful Lieutenant pushed for it," Irvine said, glancing up from the drink menu, "say, Selph, you gonna let Squall drive us home tonight so you can have a drink with me?"

"Irvine Kinneas don't you pretend for one second I couldn't drink you under the table and drive you to the moon all in the same night," Selphie replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You name the date, Selph, sounds downright romantic to me," he replied. She ignored his cheeky smile.

"Seriously though, that's been one of the nicest things about being married, getting to take our vacations together," she continued, moving her arm across the table to grasp Irvine's. Squall coughed and took a deep drink from his water glass.

It had been just over a year now since the cowboy and his petite fiancée had exchanged vows. Everyone had been a bit surprised—after all, it was the general consensus that Selphie was making a huge mistake with a playboy who would inevitably break her heart.

But against all advice and contrary to everyone's expectations, Selphie had roped him anyway, and he'd been her loyal beau ever since. Though he never lost his mastery of flirtation, the cowboy nonetheless had his eyes permanently trained on the girl in yellow from then on.

"Yep, married life is sweet, man. I'd recommend it any day. Say, when are you gonna propose to your pretty lady over there?" Irvine asked, turning to his friend.

The water in Squall's glass turned to ice, and it cracked in his hand, causing Selphie to jump and a number of the other patrons to look their way.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Quistis asked, taking hold of his hand and examining it for damage. It was chilled, but the glass didn't appear to have cut him.

"Shiva…apparently Ifrit is goading her again," he mumbled, withdrawing his hand under the table to wipe it with his napkin.

_**What? The ice queen lies!**_

A corner of Quistis' napkin ignited and she swiftly dropped it into her own glass of water before it could do any damage.

_Settle down Ifrit, and leave Shiva alone._

She heard him growling as he crawled off to the back of her mind to blaze and sulk.

Just then a waiter arrived at their table and took their orders, trying to act perfectly natural as he removed the frozen glass with the crack running down its side as well as the one with the singed napkin hanging out of it.

Selphie shook her head when he had taken his leave, "I'll never understand the relationship you two have with those GFs…"

Of course all of them had favorites among the Guardian Forces, with Selphie's being Tonberry because he was so damn cute and a really good listener AND got her discounts at all the hottest shops.

Still, it wasn't as if _her_ GF gave her dirty looks when she tried to equip other ones.

"They've been especially irritated with each other lately, I wonder why?" Quistis mused.

Squall shrugged, "Shiva is always a bit irritable in spring…"

"ANYWAY, getting back to proposals, which are far more interesting than Shiva's seasonal preferences, did you hear that Nida and Aiko broke off their engagement?" Selphie asked.

"I hadn't heard that," Quistis said, her brows furrowed, "but they were so good together."

"You got that right, but Nida wasn't ready for it. Give 'em time. I'm sure they'll be fine, it was just too soon," Irvine replied.

Quistis shifted uncomfortably and went silent, but Selphie went on seemingly without noticing, "I'll never forget the day my Irvy proposed to me!"

"None of us will…" Squall replied dryly. The karaoke night turned epic display of true love turned musical marriage proposal was a precious memory he would share with the rest of them forever, no matter how many times he asked Shiva to obliterate it, "Anyway Irvine, how's that sniper shaping up in Galbadia?"

Just then the food came, somewhat smoothing over Squall's brusque attempt to change the subject. The conversation moved on, and Quistis made every attempt to enjoy herself. Still, she had to wonder, was Hyne trying to tell her something? And more importantly, was Squall?

oOo

The next day, Squall found himself back behind his desk, feeling somewhat less confident than he had the day before. He'd gotten through another day, with Quistis seemingly not interested in broaching the topic after they arrived home from dinner and parted ways with Irvine and Selphie.

On the bright side, it was Friday, and the weekend meant a break from his ever-despised office days. Still, it also meant a perfect opportunity for the proposal he knew was coming.

He ran a hand through his hair in irritation. He was still failing to come up with a good way to propose to her and time was running short.

And, he had an especially odious duty on this particular morning. He could already hear Shiva chuckling.

_**I am eternally amused by your ability to get so out of sorts over a simple phone call.**_

Refusing to be baited, Squall swallowed his doubts and stared at the number on the scrap of paper before him. There was a big smiling face drawn next to it.

He picked up the pen from his desk and diligently scratched it out, which bought him another minute.

Finally, he forced himself to punch it into the phone.

_Ring…Ring…Ring_

He wondered if perhaps no one would answer.

"Hello there, this is the Office of the President, how can I help you?"

Wishful thinking.

"I need to speak to Laguna, can you tell him Commander Leonhart is calling."

"I'm sorry sir, the President is in a super important meeting at the moment, but I'd be happy to take a message and I promise to give it to him as soon as he gets out."

Squall shoved down his annoyance- he was pretty sure he could hear the man capering about in the background.

All his interactions with Laguna's staff had led him to the conclusion that the President of Esthar hired on the basis of similarity to himself, which meant an extremely strict perkiness quota combined with what could only delicately be called lack of efficiency. It made him profoundly grateful that there were people like Xu in the world.

"Look, this is the Commander of SeeD, Squall Leonhart, and I need to speak with President Loire immediately."

"Squall Leonhart?"

There it was. Dropping his name was like a bomb: he hated to do it, but it got the job done. People didn't necessarily respond to him, but damned if they didn't respond to 'Squall Leonhart', whether as savior of the world, Commander of SeeD…

"President Loire's son? Well why didn't you say so? He was just showing me the sweetest photo of you as a boy! I'll go grab him right away."

Squall put his hand over the receiver and sighed, burying his head in his hands. Did Laguna really have to tell everyone? And where had he gotten that photo anyway?

"Mr. President, someone on the phone for you!" he could hear the woman shouting across the room.

"Tell them I'm in a meeting!" came the shouted reply.

"I did, but it's your son!"

The voices went silent and he could hear the sound of hurried footsteps.

"You say it's Squall? What could he be calling about? Do you think he's hurt? Do you think he found out-"

He heard a softer voice, likely Kiros', cut in, but he couldn't make out what the other man was saying.

"I know, I know, you're right…what do I say to him?" Laguna responded.

Kiros made some other comment and finally he heard the sound of Laguna taking up the receiver.

"Hey, kiddo, what's up?"

_**What did he call you?**_

Squall felt the slightest twinge of sympathy for the older man. He sounded as on-edge as Squall felt. He hoped Laguna was sitting, because he had a distinct feeling his leg would be cramping up soon.

"I'm sorry to bother you at your office, but I have…a favor to ask," Squall ventured.

"Sure, sport, what can I do you for?"

"…"

"…Remember the ring you showed me a couple years ago? The one you inherited from Raine after she died?" Squall continued.

"Of course, champ. Raine's family heirloom. It's still safe and sound in that old box with the rest of her trinkets."

"I'd…like to have it…if that would be alright with you…"

Laguna said nothing for a moment, and Squall wondered if the other man might actually refuse. Finally Squall decided to speak.

"I'd understand if you don't want to give it up, but-"

"No, no, no! That ring's yours, buddy! I'm just so proud to hear it's going to keep moving down the family line." He could hear the older man sniffle slightly over the receiver, "Could I ask why you want it all of a sudden?"

Squall paused to consider this question. After all, he was quite sure Laguna would never intentionally give away his surprise, but that said nothing for what he might do by mistake. Still, he did feel he owed some explanation to the man whose dead wife's ring he was asking for.

"Just a minute…"

Squall set down the receiver and rose, walking over to his door and giving Xu a polite nod before tapping a few buttons on the nearby console. An extra layer of sound insulation clamped down over the doors. He couldn't be too careful with his intended's best friend sitting outside.

Returning to his desk, Squall sat down and picked the receiver back up. Laguna still seemed to be waiting patiently.

"I want to propose to Quistis with it."

Silence. Then he heard the other man begin furiously conversing with Kiros, his hand shoved over the phone to keep Squall from making out any of the words. Squall was impressed that he had thought to go even that far. Maybe he had underestimated the man's discretion after all.

"I'm so happy to hear you're planning to get hitched! You couldn'tve picked a finer woman either. That Quistis is a real gem. And of course you can have the ring, tiger."

_**Does he know what your name is?**_

"Listen, Laguna, you know you can just call me Squall? Squall is fine."

"Heheh, and you know you can call me dad, right? Gah-"

Squall winced as a muffled thud sounded over the phone. In a moment, he heard the sound of Laguna returning.

"Sorry, leg cramp…"

"No no that's…fine…anyway, you're sure Sis won't mind my taking it?"

"No way, Ellone doesn't really care for that kind of thing. You know, what with her being so in-tune with the past all the time, she's not really one to be sentimental about possessions. And besides, she'll be so glad to hear you're using it to propose to Quistis."

"Speaking of which," Squall added, "it is absolutely essential that this be a surprise. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you mention this to no one for the time being- especially Quistis."

"You got it, Squall. You can count on me!"

"Alright, well I'd like to arrange to pick it up sometime this weekend if that's alright…"

When the arrangements had been made, he hung up the phone and went to remove the privacy setting from his door, crumpling the scrap with the phone number on it. He was about to toss it, when it occurred to him that it might be more prudent thing to keep it around.

Still Xu might recognize it, and the last thing he wanted was for her to know he was voluntarily making personal calls to his estranged father. After all, he had a reputation to uphold. Finally he settled on jamming it into his pocket.

Sitting back in his desk, he seized the first of the reports before him. Now that that was over, he could get started on his real work.

oOo

"Squall Leonhart and Quistis Trepe, please report to the headmaster's office immediately."

Squall rolled his eyes as he heard Cid's voice crackle over the intercom. The headmaster's office was just down the hall from both of theirs', and last time he checked, was equipped with both a secretary and a state-of-the-art telephone. Old habits died hard, he supposed, and he straightened his uniform before heading out.

Arriving at the correct office, he nodded to Nida before pushing open the door that led to Cid's workspace. The headmaster smiled at him from across the desk, his warm face filling with wrinkles. Quistis was already seated in a nearby chair, and turned to offer Squall her own smile as he entered.

"Good to see you both. Have either of you thought more about the hiring situation?"

"I thought we already had this meeting," Squall muttered bluntly.

"Squall dear, what have I told you about mumbling?" Edea came up from behind and greeted him with a peck on the temple.

"Matron, you're back," Quistis said, as the elder woman turned to give her a hug.

"Yes, children, and my trip was a success. The White SeeD ship has a brand new captain," she announced.

"Which is part of the real reason I've summoned you here this morning," Cid said, shuffling some papers on his desk, and motioning for all to sit, "I was wondering if you'd be able to clear your schedules enough this afternoon to make a quick trip to the Island Closest to Hell for me?"

Squall raised an eyebrow, "What does the Island Closest to Hell have to do with the White SeeD's?"

"Good question! As you both know, that island is widely known to be home to one of the fiercest lineups of monsters in the world. As you also know, Captain Ilg's defection left the White SeeD extremely vulnerable, and it has been determined that he took an important component of the ship's engine with him when he left."

"I thought agents from Galbadia Garden had been dispatched and caught up with Ilg somewhere in Esthar," said Quistis.

"As always, my dear, your information is correct," Edea replied. "He was apprehended without too much trouble due largely to the help of Squall's father, who, incidentally, hopes that you'll visit him sometime soon."

_When is that guy going to give up? Probably not before Kashkabald Desert freezes over._

_**That could be arranged…**_

"Whatever," Squall replied.

He knew Edea had gotten the idea into her head that she was obligated to reunite him with his biological father, and he considered conceding that he'd actually spoken to the man on the phone that very day, but really he didn't want to deal with the questions that would elicit.

"In any case," Cid continued, "when Ilg was apprehended he did not have the component in his possession. It has been ascertained that he managed to plant it on the Island Closest to Hell in the hopes that the strength of the monsters and the consequential indefinite crippling of the White SeeD ship would give him a better chance to escape."

Squall snorted, "He doesn't sound like the kind of guy who would last long enough to plant the part on the island."

"We aren't sure how he did it—he may well have hurled it from a passing boat for all we know— but the part gives off a very particular energy signature, and we are quite certain it is somewhere in the island's interior."

"Why hasn't the part just been replaced?" Squall continued.

"We were attempting to get a hold of someone in Esthar for just that purpose, but Quistis mentioned that the two of you would be happy to pop over there and grab it for us instead, which will actually be much more convenient, not to mention cost-effective."

Squall glanced at his partner and swallowed. That she had been the impetus for this made it interesting. Still, he wasn't about to pass up a chance to stretch his legs or allow her to go to the Island Closest to Hell alone.

Besides, the monsters would put a damper on any intentions of proposal, so it was probably just a plain, legitimate mission. Shiva radiated suspicion, but said nothing.

"Alright," he agreed, and everyone stood. Cid came over and shook his hand, walking him over to the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Edea and Quistis exchange a smile not unlike the one Quistis and Xu had traded the day before.

Monsters be damned— _that_ was something to be worried about.

oOo

Squall boarded the Ragnorak, Lionheart slung over his shoulder. Quistis was striding by his side, Save the Queen coiled at her waist, ready to strike. As he went, he reviewed his junctions in his mind, but everything was set, and he could find no problems. He could only try to believe that his initial hope was right, and that his gut feeling was completely wrong.

_**You are not a fool, do not endeavor to be one.**_

They arrived on the bridge, where their captain was already seated. Selphie herself had been unavailable. Before long they were lifting off, and the world was flying by beneath them.

"Are you set for items and magic?" he asked, noting that his mega-potion supplies were a bit lower than he'd realized.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Squall tensed, though not visibly, he hoped.

"I was thinking maybe this time we could just use enc-none while we search for the component. I know we've been cooped up in the office a lot recently, but I've really been trying to find a quiet moment to talk to you and I thought we might be able to do that now without Ruby Dragons lunging at our throats."

Squall was silent. How could he deny her such a request?

"Alright," he agreed.

Already he could feel Shiva hurtling from his mind, no doubt on her way to have a stern talk with Diablos.

oOo

"Where do you think you're going?"

Diablos turned towards the voice and suddenly bumped into a brown wall with a fuzzy patch of orange growing out of it, which turned out to be Ifrit's chest. The gravity demon growled almost reflexively, but was silenced when the fire demon displayed his fury with a burst of flame.

"If you must know, I have business on the immortal plane," Diablos said, glowering.

Ifrit snarled and the flames licked dangerously closer, "Insolent worm. You have business here. Your mistress requires your aid to keep the monsters at bay."

Diablos snorted, but kept his cool. There was no sense in getting mad like Ifrit. After all, as much as the fire demon growled and threatened, they were both immortals and ones with power drawn from utterly disparate realms.

His gravity posed little threat to Ifrit's flames and vice versa. It would be the most boring eternal showdown since the psychic sisters had taken up the minotaur brothers' hobby of rock, paper, scissors.

"Stand aside Ifrit, my mistress would have called if she needed me."

Ifrit gave a mighty roar that shook every corner of Quistis' mind.

_Ifrit, what in Hyne's name has gotten into you? Oh, good, you found Diablos! I've been looking for you. I need your help._

Ifrit's snout curled into a snarling grin and Diablos' shoulders sank.

_Forgive me…Shiva…master…_

oOo

Quistis kicked aside some sand with her boot and _voila, _there was what looked like a highly advanced engine component. Squall switched off the sensor to silence its incessant beeping.

"I hope all this sand hasn't damaged it," she said, wiping what she could from its surface, "mission accomplished."

"Yeah, we'd better get that back to Cid. The pilot will be waiting too…"

"We'll get it back soon enough," Quistis replied, tucking the part into her inventory, and forgetting about it almost instantly. She had held off this long in the name of professionalism, but now the mission was complete, and she had Cid's explicit permission to take as long as she needed.

And the time felt right. Squall _was_ a bit jumpy for some reason, as if he thought monsters were going to leap out at them any second, but it was a warm spring day and the sun was at long last going down over the distant ocean.

The skies burned deeply orange, resembling Ifrit more than their usual Shiva, and there wasn't a monster or a person in sight, save one of course, and he was the only one that mattered.

She turned to him and their eyes locked. Yes, this was her moment.

Suddenly, his eyes jerked away from her to something just over her shoulder. He shoved the two of them out of the way just as a huge pair of jaws clamped down in the space where they had been.

Immediately she assumed a fighting stance, glad she'd brought Save the Queen just in case. The Ruby Dragon's yellow eyes gleamed at her dangerously.

"Don't look now, but we've got more company," Squall growled, Lionheart glowing blue before him. Sure enough, a Malboro was slithering towards them from the east.

Quistis felt her adrenaline begin to rush and managed to cast 'mighty guard' first thing.

Her last thought before plunging into battle had something to do with the fact that as soon as she was through with these two, she was going to kill Diablos.

oOo

He lay on the couch, staring blankly at the dark ceiling. They had survived the Island Closest to Hell, though there'd been a number of close calls as they'd raced back to Ragnorak. And besides the regular suite of injuries, he'd been caught in a nasty spray of bad breath.

_You okay in there, Shiva?_

He wasn't sure how she experienced his headaches but it couldn't be pleasant in his head right then.

_**I'm fine. It is you I worry over.**_

He felt a wave of cool, like an invisible compress was being placed on his forehead, and sunk still deeper into the couch.

_This is crazy. We were crazy to think this was a good idea._

_**You are being reactive. We could not have anticipated that Ifrit would prevent Diablos' initial escape, nor that Diablos would be fool enough to leave you stranded in the middle of the island with no recourse.**_

Somewhere in his mind he felt Diablos' wings and tail sagging in shame. Quistis had banished him from her mind the moment they'd arrived back on Ragnorak, and Squall, feeling sorry for him, had let the demon curl up in his mind and lick his wounds. He'd incurred Quistis' wrath before, and it was no envious situation to be in.

_**I ask you, would it not have been just as easy to turn on enc-half?**_

_Leave him alone, Shiva._

The door slid open, and Quistis switched on the light as she entered. She appeared above him in a moment, holding a small paper bag in her hand, which he eyed suspiciously.

"It's just some medicine for your head. Kadowaki says it'll make things settle down in there."

Gingerly, she prompted him to rise slightly, which he did, and slipped in underneath so his head rested in her lap. Then she held out a small white pill, which he opened his mouth to accept and was about to hand him the glass of water from the nearby table when she felt him swallow.

"I wish you wouldn't do that. You're going to choke yourself one of these days…" she muttered, taking a sip for the glass herself.

"That would be a great way for the SeeD commander to go— choking on a little white pill."

"If I wouldn't let that Malboro kill you, what makes you think I'd let a little white pill?" She smiled, and reached down to run her fingers through his hair, her nails grazing his scalp in a hypnotically repetitive motion that sent tingles cascading across his consciousness.

His eyes closed slowly. After a moment, he opened them a crack, and saw that Quistis was staring out ahead, her expression inscrutable.

"Do I smell as bad as I think I do?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts. She blinked, and looked down at him, smiling.

"Yeah, you do."

"Ifrit must be happy about that."

"He's still pissed off, though not about that. He says you smell content."

"And what about you? What does he say you smell like?"

She didn't respond, though he suspected Ifrit had answered.

"Well, I better go wash off all this contentment…"

He de-equipped, which he had made a habit of doing after Shiva had once absentmindedly turned his shower into a hailstorm. With the GFs acting so unpredictably lately it was probably a doubly good idea.

Quistis remained on the couch, idly listening to the opening and closing of the bathroom door and the sound of the shower starting. Her face settled into a frown.

The GFs weren't the only ones that were off lately. Squall was acting so strangely. He seemed oddly jittery and non-responsive.

And besides that, all of her proposal attempts had ended in abysmal failure. She thought back to the conversation with Selphie and Irvine over dinner…

Lost in her thoughts, she nonetheless heard the sound of him padding up behind her, but by the time she turned it was too late.

She yelped as a pair of strong arms seized her around the middle and yanked her over the back of the couch and clear into the air. He settled her there, one arm under her knees and the other resting below her shoulders. She threw her arms around his neck and laughed, all thoughts of the strange goings on banished.

"Unequip Ifrit," he ordered, kissing her deeply and carrying her towards the bathroom. There was yet a bit more energy left in him.

oOo

Squall sighed as he stretched on the bed. He was thoroughly cleaned, dressed in a newly washed pair of boxers and an undershirt, yet he had a suspicion that, to Ifrit at least, he smelled the same. And more importantly, Quistis did now too. Like contentment and apple shampoo.

"I'm just going to mess it up again," he informed her matter-of-factly.

She paused in her combing and turned to him, brow raised, before seemingly resigning her hair to its fate. Setting down the comb, Quistis headed over to the bed, collapsing into his arms and burying her head in his chest. Both sighed.

The potions had sewn their bodies back together, so they were fully-healed in spite of having suffered a number of vicious wounds. That did not, however, mean they didn't feel the after effects of said wounds. Their muscles were stiff and sore, and they lay there, feeling very much like an assortment of odd limbs and bones collapsed together into a pile.

"I'm sorry to put us in danger like that. I was an idiot to think we should linger so close to Hell," she said.

She felt his arms tighten around her and he nuzzled her hair.

"Never mind. You couldn't have expected enc-none to fail."

"I suppose…" She absently traced swirls across the front of his shirt with her nails.

"How'd you get that?" he continued, indicating a colorful bruise just below her clavicle.

"The grendel caught me with its tail."

"Hn. What about that one?" This time, he pointed to her shoulder.

"That one," she replied, eying him with mock accusation, "is from you."

"And don't look so pleased with yourself," she added.

He nuzzled her shoulder, as if asking for forgiveness, and placed the tiniest of kisses directly on the bruise.

"Yeah, yeah, put on that contrite act all you want. You're not the one who has to wear a strapless dress to the gala on Sunday."

Squall's eyes widened and he turned to her sharply.

She looked unsympathetic.

"The gala for the new instructor's appointment? Honestly Squall, Xu and I both reminded you about it."

He muttered something incomprehensible that was likely four-lettered.

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes. You. Do." She said, catching his arm and punctuating each word with kisses down its length until she arrived at his palm and placed an extra one squarely in its center.

He traced a path up her spine with his fingertips, revealing the skin beneath her camisole. She shivered, and pressed closer.

"That from the cold or from me?" he asked. She responded by pulling herself up to press a slow, deep kiss against his lips. Neither of them was in a mood to hurry tonight.

When they finally pulled apart, languidly separating to restore air to their lungs, she replied:

"Either way, I think you know what to do."

His other hand settled onto her hip and her arms found their way around his neck. And then he was gently urging her to shift, interspersing every motion with lingering kisses, taking his time. Finally, slowly, slowly he came down after her, savoring this chance to assure her that none of the recent events meant he wanted her any less.

oOo

Saturday morning dawned lazily, and Squall felt the hints of confidence returning. Day three had been a bit rough but he'd gotten through it, and as a bonus she seemed to be feeling better too.

He'd scheduled a training session with Zell, but he begged it off, honestly attributing his cancellation to the aching of his muscles, though not being entirely forthright about the source of the strain.

As he stood in the kitchen pushing eggs and bacon about in a skillet, he re-equipped Shiva. It seemed Diablos had been forgiven, for he could no longer sense the gravity demon's presence in his mind.

_**He remembers me at last.**_

_Don't sulk._

_**I am not sulking.**_

He flipped the eggs and checked the bacon but it wasn't ready to be turned so he increased the heat on the burner just a bit.

_Is the heat bothering you?_

_**No, though I don't see why you insist on turning it on.**_

_I need it to cook the food._

_**You know freezing the food would just as effectively rid it of bacterial life.**_

Squall let his mind linger on an image of baconsicles and eggcubes for a moment before banishing the thought forever.

_Actually it's a pretty nice temperature in here. Usually this time of year the heat is still on from winter and the residence wing is unbearably hot._

_**It was unbearably hot. I took the liberty of taking it down a few degrees.**_

He smiled.

_Shiva, there is no other guardian as clever or wonderful as you._

She huffed, as if to say it was about time he'd noticed, but seemed pleased.

_**Perhaps since you have finally realized my cleverness I should tell you what I have found for you.**_

_Hn?_

_**I suspect it may aid you in planning your proposal.**_

Now she really had his attention. What did she mean by 'something she had found for him'? He didn't have a chance to ask before suddenly arms wrapped around his midsection from behind.

"Morning," Quistis said, pressing a kiss against his ear, "do you have any dirty clothes anywhere strange? I'm throwing in a load of laundry."

"Did you remember to get my shirt from behind the bed?" he asked as he flipped the bacon, perfectly straight-faced.

"Of course," she replied, shifting the hamper in her hands, "I was the one that tossed it there."

"What about my uniform?"

"I folded it for you, but you do know you can't put it in the washing machine, right?"

He turned and looked at her blankly, as if to ask why he shouldn't be able to put clothes in a washing machine.

"Speaking of which, Casanova, this fell out of your pocket," she added, holding the hamper against her hip and tossing him a small, crumpled ball of paper. He turned and caught it, unwadding it to see if it was anything important.

Of course—Laguna's office number. He glanced up at her just to confirm that she'd already seen what it was herself. Well, he couldn't very well admit to her whose number it was.

"I don't suppose you'd believe I got this off of a beautiful woman, would you?" he asked.

"Not a chance. Mr. Leonhart, you might be exceptional in more ways than I can count but you couldn't flirt your way out of a wet paper bag," she said, as if she was giving an unflattering progress report to a particularly self-delusional cadet.

He made the effort to look offended, so she rewarded him with a laugh before going on her way.

"I'm going to put in what I've got. I'll be right back. It smells like those are about done," she called back.

Sure enough, the bacon looked crispy and the egg whites had turned opaque. He switched off the burner and slid the food out of the skillet and onto plates.

Cooking was something he hadn't bothered to learn to do until recently, but he was pleased with the progress he'd made. Quistis seemed to enjoy eating what he cooked and, after all, it beat hot dogs any day.

He glanced at his watch. A couple more hours to lounge around, and then he he'd need to be on his way. After all, Esthar was a long ways off, and Laguna was a talker. His excuse would only cover him for a couple hours.

o0o

A/N: Hello again. If you're reading this you're through chapter two! Congratulations- that was a long one. A bit fluffier too, eh? As always, reviews are cherished. Thank you for reading.

-JP


	3. Fragments of Memories

**Chapter 3: Fragments of Memories**

The cloth slid along the length of the blade, leaving a gleaming trail in its wake. This particular type of oil wasn't easy to come by, but it made Lionheart shine like nothing else.

And that was the sole reason Squall tolerated the oilboyle that had taken up residence in the engine room several years earlier. The enormous fuel sponge was allowed free range on the engine level in return for continuing to produce the precious secretion.

By now it had become practically domesticated. All the mechanics at Fisherman's Horizon loved it and Quistis had affectionately taken to calling it Doyle.

Setting the now immaculate blade back into its case, Squall ceremoniously ended his Sunday afternoon ritual. His mother's ring winked out at him from the folds of the case where he'd tucked it to keep it out of sight.

Not that he needed to worry about it being discovered just now. Quistis was out with Selphie and Xu meeting Rinoa for brunch in Deling City, leaving him alone with his thoughts and the icy guardian who weaved her way among them.

Squall himself hadn't seen Rinoa since the day he'd stood on the train depot, face locked in a mask of stoicism, watching her go. Quistis, however, had been to see her several times with Selphie, and occasionally accompanied Matron to visit Seifer.

Sometimes he wondered if they ever talked about him— if she ever asked. Not that there was any real reason to believe she cared in the least. After all, she was apparently perfectly thrilled to spend the rest of her life sailing around the world with Seifer, returning regularly only to Fisherman's Horizon to refuel, resupply, and meet up with Fujin and Raijin.

But, knowing her, she probably did still care. In all the time he'd known her, she'd never been one to care too little, and he had no reason to expect that that had changed.

Just then, a faint mental tugging drew his attention, the summons of the ice queen, and immediately he was reminded of her intriguing comment from the previous morning.

_Shiva, you said you had found something that might help me propose to Quistis?_

_**Indeed. What I have 'found' is something you have carried with you all along. **_

He paused to consider this. 'The answer lies within you' seemed a bit cliché for Shiva, but she sounded serious.

Then it hit him.

_My memories._

A strange happiness welled up within him at the thought of regaining access to all the pieces of his past he had lost over the years. He had hoped her efforts might bear fruit, but he had never imagined it would be so soon.

Making sure Shiva shared in his wave of emotion, he was rewarded with the sound of pealing laughter.

_**I am glad you are happy. There is a particular group of memories I focused my efforts on—those which might be tied to your intended in some way. I had hoped they might inspire you in your efforts to find a special way to propose to her.**_

_How did you manage to specifically find those memories?_

_**Memories are suspended in a vast multi-dimensional web which allows them to be connected to one another as well as particular stimuli such as smells, or colors.**_

_**It was simply a matter of identifying the connection which interested me and following it to its end. No memory ever goes away, but plenty of them become effectively lost in the jumble. **_

_What do guardians have to do with that?_

_**As I understand it, an equipped guardian, as a sentient being, occupies some of that same space, thus tangling and confusing what is already a series of exquisitely intricate connections. I believe, however, that I have managed to unravel a few of the knots.**_

_**For now, the process of retrieving the memories is too time consuming to be practical, but I intend to continue to hone the technique. Perhaps I may yet find a way to prevent the initial tangling in the first place.**_

_How can I access the new memories?_

_**I have restored them to their original place in the nexus. You need only attempt to remember her and the restored memories should be there among the others.**_

_Thank you, Shiva._

_**You hardly need thank me for returning that which I took. I am a guardian after all— to do harm to my charge is antithetical to my very being.**_

He felt a cold squeeze of encouragement on his shoulder, and then she withdrew, granting him privacy to review his recollections.

Sitting there on the couch, Squall let his thoughts wander to Quistis, and was soon plunged into memory.

"Yes. You. Do." she was placing kisses on him arm between each word…no, that was too recent. He had no trouble remembering that particular night. He had to go further back, back into the mistiest parts of the past, back to the orphanage in Centra where they'd first met...

oOo

The lanky blond girl raced in and clambered up on the bed beside them, clutching the worn old storybook in her arms.

She was the best at reading, so she sat the book down in front of her and Squall and Zell crowded in on either side, looking at the pictures and trying to catch the words they recognized.

"Alright, everybody has to pick a page without looking," Quistis said, though they'd been through the procedure a million times before.

The trio hesitated for a moment before finally Squall reached out a tentative hand. He closed his eyes and let the edges of the pages skim past his thumb before catching one and laying it flat.

"White mage?"

Before he could think of a suitable protest, Quistis was already skimming to another page.

"Black mage!"

Finally, Zell made one last flip.

"Warrior!" he cried, hefting the entire book in the air like a battle trophy.

"Be careful Zell, you'll break it!" Quistis scolded, carefully extricating the tome from his fingers and placing it gently on the nearby pillow.

"Okay, everybody go get your stuff and meet at the door when you're ready," she said.

Zell scampered off with a whoop. Squall, however, sat frowning on the bed.

"Come on Squall, let's go," Quistis grabbed his arm and tried to pull him, but he wouldn't budge.

"I don't wanna play anymore," he sulked, crossing his arms stubbornly, "white mage is a girl's job."

Quistis rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the bed, calling back as she headed in the direction Zell had just run, "If you're just going to sit in here and do nothing the whole time, you might as well be the princess."

Squall's dejected chin shot up and he bolted off the bed as if it had become suddenly electrified.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin'" he hollered, and headed off to find the things he needed. A minute later he came racing back into the room, ripped the white sheet from the bed, and ran off again.

oOo

Quistis was the second to arrive at the door, pulling it closed until the latch clicked behind her.

"Um…you know black mages don't actually wear black, right Quisty?" Squall inquired from under his white hood.

"I know," she said, "but Matron only has black…"

All in all, Quistis had donned one of Matron's black shawls and the yellow straw hat with a wide brim that kept the sun off their caretaker's fair face in the garden. The hat was properly too big, and the shawl fit her like a cloak.

At her waist she had tied a small cheesecloth bag from the kitchen, and a thin rod, the straightest stick she could find, protruded out of her pocket.

Squall, for his part, had folded the bed sheet to prevent it from dragging (much) and pulled it over his head as a hood. He had a hemp sack thrown over his shoulder and in his hand he gripped the broken shaft of an old shovel, which had long lain abandoned by the edge of the house.

They heard the door creak behind them and jumped back as a pair of prongs poked out, followed closely by a kettle, then a shock of blonde hair and the familiar face of Zell, all screwed up with the effort of maneuvering out of the doorway.

"What is that?" Squall said, his eyes wandering up from Zell's face to the contraption above it.

"It's my helmet," the other boy replied proudly. Sitting on his head was Matron's soup kettle, two pieces of branching coral from the beach jammed into its handles and pointing skyward in a crude imitation of horns. He had also tied the arms of an old trench coat around his neck as a cape, the hem trailing in the dirt behind him.

"You look great, Zell!" Quistis said, "but don't forget this."

She handed him one of the wooden swords Ellone had helped them fashion out of discarded posts from a broken section of the old fence.

"Alright, let's go!" Zell shouted, pointing his weapon and racing out of the small courtyard. Suddenly his cape caught under his foot and he sprawled. There was a hollow thud as he fell across the stones, punctuated by the harsh clang of his helmet clattering beside him.

Quistis rushed to his side, attempting to prevent the wail that was already rising in the younger boy's throat. A small line of red appeared on his knee and the first buds of tears appeared at the corners of his eyes.

"Squall!" she said, turning to him with an expectant look.

Squall eyed her blankly for a moment before coming to the blinking realization of what she was looking at him like that for.

"Oh," he said. He sighed heavily, and dug a reluctant hand into his sack. Finally, he produced the item he wanted and walked over.

"Cure," he said, pressing a band-aid onto Zell's knee. The blond boy sniffled and kept his eyes on the ground as Quistis ran to retrieve Matron's fallen kettle. She brushed it off and straightened the coral horns, holding it out in Zell's direction.

When the sniffling warrior made no move to acknowledge it, Squall took it and set it gently back on the bright blonde head.

"Come on Zell, you can't cry," Squall whispered, giving the metal a slight rap with his knuckles, "you're the hero."

Zell's eyes slowly rose beneath the kettle's lid, and they met Squall's. Holding his helm steady, he nodded.

"Let's go," he said, pushing to his feet and straightening his helm with a flourish. He bounced on the balls of his feet while Quistis cinched up his cape and then off he went, the coat safely buffeted up in the wind behind him. The two mages ran after.

Together they sped across the field, bounding from flower to flower and scattering the butterflies.

"Look, a monster!" Zell cried, indicating the fallen frame of the old scarecrow who'd guarded the field back when it had produced grains rather than flowers. Squall and Quistis hurriedly propped it up into position before falling back into formation.

Leering through its half-rotten face, the enemy bore down on them. Squall got in an early stroke with his staff, dispatching the creature's arm and sending straw flying.

"Take this!" Quistis cried, fishing through her bag, "Bio!"

She produced a white tube and squeezed it, brandishing her rod as the enemy became coated in tendrils of sticky green goop.

"Let's finish it," Zell shouted, and charged with his sword, knocking the scarecrow back to the ground with a swift blow. Quistis and Squall followed up with swipes of their own.

"The monster is dead!" Zell finally cried, raising his sword in triumph. They all pranced around victoriously before Quistis leaned down among their enemy's remains and plucked off a shining black button from his shirt. She tied it by the remaining red thread onto the end of her rod.

"I'm never using that green toothpaste again…" Quistis said, tucking the tube back into her bag.

"Are you kidding?" Zell replied, "Bio flavored toothpaste is awesome! I'm never gonna use any other kind for the rest of my life."

"Hey guys, who wants a potion?" Squall interrupted, setting down his hemp bag and pulling it open.

His friends looked at him curiously before squatting to examine the contents of the bag.

"Oooo, I want a grape potion!" Zell cried, pulling out the small box with relish.

"Did you ask Matron before taking those?" Quistis asked, frowning sternly.

Squall shrugged, "I found 'em in a chest in the house. That means I can take 'em for our quest, right? I mean the heroes always take the stuff in the chests…"

"I guess…" Quistis said, though she seemed more convinced by the strawberry-banana flavor she spied than by anything Squall had said.

Squall took the lemonade and pulled the bag closed, tossing it back over his shoulder. Racing to the edge of the field, the three companions pulled themselves up onto the fence, Zell's helmet resting on the post at his side, their bare legs swinging back and forth as they sipped their potions.

Suddenly Zell yelped, clutching the back of his head.

"Don't you even know how to use a helmet, chicken-wuss? You actually have to put it on your head! Though if you aren't bright enough to use one, maybe there's nothin' in there to protect."

Squall and Quistis leapt from the fence and turned to see Seifer, a fresh clod of dirt in his left hand and a wooden sword like Zell's in his right.

"I'm the fallen knight," he cried, "come face me."

Seifer raced up to Zell and the two began to spar, their wooden blades making dull thonks as they crossed.

Quistis reached into her bag and pulled out a small flask she'd found in the kitchen.

"Water!" she cried, splashing it on Seifer.

"Too bad for you guys," the boy snickered, wiping the drops from his face, "water doesn't hurt me!"

"Come on Zell, keep going—cure!" cried Squall, pressing a band-aid randomly on the other's shoulder.

"Oooo, a white mage! I'm really scared. Don't accidentally get healing magic on me," Seifer cackled, eliciting a growl from a reddened Squall.

"Aero!" cried Quistis, seizing a nearby dandelion and blowing its seeds in Seifer's direction.

"Wind doesn't hurt me either," Seifer boasted.

"Seifer, you can't just say that about everything! It's not fair," Quistis shouted, fuming.

"Fine, fine. That's the last one— you can't hit me with water or wind…"

"Or death," he hastily added, looking pleased with himself for thinking of that before Quistis could.

"Alright then," Quistis replied, smirking, "how 'bout this?"

She pulled a small bundle of newspaper out of her bag and unwrapped it. The others stopped their jockeying and watched with curiosity. Expertly, she sprinkled a fine black mist of soot onto the ground before her, chanting "Zombie!"

The three boys looked perplexed.

For the second time that day, Quistis looked at Squall expectantly.

"Oh," he said, eyes brightening, and dug back into his bag until his hand hit on the ruffled edge of the object he desired.

"Phoenix down!" he cried, brandishing the mottled brown feather he'd found in the garden at Seifer.

"Hey, no fair, you can't do that! I'm the boss!" Seifer complained.

"You said we could hit you with anything else!" Quistis retorted.

"Fine…" Seifer shouted. He seized his throat, sticking his tongue out and generally making a scene about falling dead to the ground.

"We did it! We beat the boss!" Zell cried, jumping up and down with excitement.

"'Course, as the boss I have at least two forms!" cried Seifer suddenly, lunging from the ground and attacking Zell, who screamed and flailed his way out of the other's arms.

A few feet away, Squall shook his head.

"Next time, I get to be the hero," he said, turning to Quistis.

"What do you mean?" she replied, giving him a smile, "you got to be the hero this time."

He returned her smile when another wail from the direction of the two blond boys caused them to turn.

"Should we go save our warrior?" Squall asked.

"Yeah," Quistis replied, reaching into her bag to pull out a thermos. She unscrewed the cap and held it out to Squall so he could see the slick mass of ice cubes inside.

"Why don't we give blizzard a try?"

oOo

Squall shook his head and let the memory fade back into its proper place. It was surreal watching a part of his own childhood without any idea what was going to happen next, yet he found that if he wished, he could access the recollection now at will.

Still, interesting as it had been, it hadn't exactly given him any good ideas about how to propose to Quistis. On a whim, he stood and walked over to the bathroom sink, uncapping the toothpaste and squeezing just a little out so he could see it.

White. What a relief. Still, he knew what he was getting Zell for Christmas this year.

Returning to the couch, Squall planted himself back down again and dug for another memory, secure in the knowledge that no potion would ever taste as good as that cool lemonade on the old fence.

oOo

His eyes opened in a flash and he jerked up, causing her to jump slightly in surprise. The library book was still open before him but he must have somehow managed to doze off, for he had awakened to the sensation of the jacket he'd placed on the back of his chair being gently draped over his shoulders.

He met the stranger's eyes to divine her intentions and nearly jumped back himself. He'd seen eyes like that before, but only on one person.

"Quisty?"

He let it slip without thinking. A number of emotions seemed to pass over her countenance before finally she settled on a stern frown.

"That's 'Instructor' to you, Cadet…" she replied, before confusion slipped back onto her face, "Have we…met?"

Suddenly a look of dread appeared and she pulled back slightly, "You're not a Trepie are you?"

Squall didn't allow his own confusion to show. "I'm a class C gunblader," he replied, hoping it would answer her question.

"A gunblader, eh? What did you say your name was?"

"Squall Leonhart."

She blinked, quietly repeating the name to herself as if its sound was familiar to her mouth, before adding, "I'm Quistis Trepe, Blue Mage Instructor."

"Excuse me Instructor, you reminded me of someone else…" he muttered, hastily pushing out of his seat, gathering his book and jacket, and high-tailing it out to the front of the library. Setting the book on the counter, he handed the student clerk his ID, silently brooding in his thoughts.

The odds of two people who looked so alike being named Quistis…it was just too impossible. She looked about the right age too, not to mention the fact that that stern frown was as familiar as the back of his hand. Quistis had never had a last name while he'd known her, but how could _his_ Quistis possibly not remember him?

"Shot you down, did she? Come on pal, that's Quistis Trepe, what made you think you had a chance?"

He glanced up at the clerk and wondered if he should bother. In the end, he gave in, deigning to raise a single eyebrow. That was all the encouragement the other needed.

"Look, if you're interested in her, you should come to classroom two tonight at 5 o'clock."

Squall's only response was the slightest narrowing of his eyes, and without replying he took his library book and headed for the door. Still, he wondered…

oOo

When he arrived in the classroom there was already a small crowd forming. Upon an initial scan there seemed to be approximately twenty boys and eight girls, mostly cadets with a few who looked to be full-fledged SeeDs.

The guy from the library caught sight of him and beckoned him over to where he was standing with a group of other cadets.

"Hey, you came," he smirked, "with the power of Quistis, you can't resist us."

The others in the circle laughed and Squall fought back his urge to wince.

"What is this?"

"We're the Trepies! The one and only officially-recognized fan club devoted to the one and only Quistis Trepe!"

Come to think of it, he remembered Quistis mentioning something about 'Trepies'. Based on the expression she'd worn at the time, he was willing to bet this 'official recognition' was more than a little dubious. Then again 'more than a little dubious' could have been their club motto.

He must have been silent too long because another of the Trepies piped up.

"We work to promote the appreciation and advancement of Quistis Trepe. When she became a candidate for instructor a bunch of us decided it would be a good idea to file a brief with Headmaster Cid endorsing her qualifications as a candidate. It was only when we all got together to put down on paper just how amazing she was that we really realized the extent of it ourselves. And so, the club was born!"

The others in the immediate vicinity nodded gravely to each other.

"We update each other on all the latest Quistis news, produce quality, fact-driven publications about why we love Quistis, and submit a monthly report to the woman herself for review."

"What do you know about her?"

The Trepies all looked at him incredulously.

"Are you…like…challenging us?" one of the girls asked.

"I know— he wants to test us to see if we're legit. This guy's hardcore!" another crooned, his excitement evident.

Squall tried to ignore him and get on with his questioning: "How old is she?"

"She's sixteen," one blurted out.

"She'll be seventeen in October," another chimed in.

"October _4__th_," a third quickly added.

Only sixteen and already an Instructor? No wonder she'd been so agitated when he'd called her Quisty…she must have seen disrespect everywhere.

"Out of curiosity, how old are you?" Squall asked, pinning his gaze on the one who'd spoken last.

"Nineteen, why?" the other replied, sounding disappointed that the question hadn't been about Quistis.

Squall bit back any reply he might have made to this. He needed to get this over with and get out.

"Where is she from?"

The girl spoke up first, "Her parents are Abel and Veronika Trepe of Deling City. Both deceased, as far as we can tell."

"Quistis doesn't like to talk about them…" the boy next to her added, "After they died she never went back to Deling again."

"If she's from Deling why didn't she end up in Galbadia Garden?"

The first girl shrugged, "she did spend her first few months there, but was almost immediately transferred to Balamb. The transfer order was signed by Cid himself!"

Squall knew he didn't want to know how the Trepies had managed to get her hands on Quistis' official transfer paperwork.

"So she never lived in Centra?"

The cadet from the library snorted, "Are you kidding me? How could you possibly mistake an elegant tigress like Quistis Trepe for one of those hillbillies from the boondocks of Centra?"

Squall momentarily considered retorting that if he wasn't mistaken, this 'elegant tigress' was the same girl he remembered making mudmen with when the snow started to melt, but ultimately decided against it.

Whether she was his Quistis or not, she probably wouldn't appreciate a tidbit like that falling into Trepie hands.

In any case, he doubted he was going to get anything more from them, so he nodded abruptly and turned to leave. The doors parted before him and he walked out into the hallway. Before he'd taken ten steps, he saw her.

"Leonhart, was it?" Quistis asked, looking a bit flustered as she continued past him towards the door he'd just come from.

He coughed, "You might not want to go in there…"

She halted and turned back to him, giving him a puzzled look, "I think I may have forgotten my binder when I was teaching in here. I need to run in and grab it…"

"You should…let me retrieve it."

She scrunched up her face in confusion, when, as if on cue, there sounded a rousing chorus of "Come on Quistis, you can't resist us, we'd all prefer if you just kissed us."

This time Squall openly winced, and he saw Quistis' face grow pale as she drew back from the door. The library guy's joke from earlier had apparently caught on…

"So you are a Trepie!" she hissed, keeping her voice down.

His face convulsed into a grimace and he tried to speak but he couldn't come up with any rebuttal that sufficiently captured his revulsion.

Fortunately she seemed able to read his face well enough.

"Just an innocent bystander, eh? Alright, Leonhart, then I might take you up on that offer— could you run in and grab my binder from under the desk? And please don't let them know I'm out here."

He nodded without really thinking, and before he knew it he was casually striding back into the room towards the teacher's desk.

The Trepies seemed absorbed in the task of coming up with hand motions to accompany their new song, and he managed get to the desk and locate the binder without any trouble.

Still casually, he made his way back towards the door. With a swish, it opened, and he let out the breath he'd been holding. Quistis stepped away from the wall she'd flattened herself against and gave him a stunning smile of gratitude, taking the binder and tucking it under her arm.

Suddenly he heard a telltale swoosh of the doors opening and closing from behind and turned to see the clerk from the library walking towards them, "Hey, pal, what's that you—"

The man froze. He had spotted Quistis.

Without an ounce of hesitation, she closed the distance between them and with a smooth motion that seemed to flow out of her stride, socked the cadet square in the jaw. His body swayed in indecision for a moment before collapsing, but Quistis caught him and set him gently on the floor, out cold.

Not that the Trepies inside would have heard a thing, with their chant having become a round with what sounded like musical accompaniment.

Still, it did explain the whole full-fledged SeeD at fifteen, instructor at sixteen thing. Maybe this wasn't the earnest little girl he'd known all those years ago…

She turned to him and put her finger to her lips, swearing him to secrecy.

As they quietly padded down the hallway towards the elevator, he watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting the stern frown that had jumped into place.

Then again, maybe it was his Quisty after all.

oOo

Slowly, the memory retreated back into the spot in his mind where it belonged, waiting for the time it might be accessed again.

And he'd be damned if he planned to do that anytime soon- some things were better left forgotten!

Ever since he had become known, though long before he'd ever become involved romantically with Quistis, the Trepies had maintained a long-standing claim (which he had always disputed) that he was one of their members.

He still got their 'newsletter' in his mailbox and at one point they even ran a recruitment campaign with posters that featured a caricature of him snuggling a little Quistis doll against his cheek.

He had found a copy of that very poster, carefully folded and tucked into one of her photo albums, when he and Quistis had moved in together, so he had a bit of a grudging affection for it now. At the time, however, Seifer had laughed himself hoarse and Quistis had been mortified. Squall had not been amused, and neither had Rinoa, his new girlfriend at the time.

Thoughts of Rinoa brought his recollections rocketing forward in time, past battles and missions and moments uncountable. The memory his mind settled on was hardly one he had forgotten, but also one he hadn't thought of in a long time, and it was accompanied by a distinctive taste of bitterness.

oOo

For claiming to be his friends, they didn't really know him that well.

They thought that with her gone, he'd shut down, that he'd cease to function, that his battery would just die and he'd come to a standstill then and there.

They were wrong, of course. He'd been a functioning human being before Rinoa had come into his life, and it was simply a matter of returning to the basic operations when she left it.

Indeed, he was more productive than ever, though he had to admit he was getting damned tired of the worried creases that would appear in Cid's forehead every time he turned in a project early, and the shadows of pity that lurked in the older man's eyes.

Unfortunately, none of his so-called friends seemed to know how to interact with him anymore. It was ironic that they all seemed to assume this had screwed him up when they were the ones who allowed it to affect them.

For him it had been simple— an easy regression back into the person who he really was. No more stretching every day, no more constant attempts to push past his barriers. He was comfortable now.

Even Shiva had been acting ridiculous enough that he'd been forced to unequip her. They hadn't spoken in a month. At times he missed her, but the privacy was welcome too. It was nice to have a sanctuary in his mind where he could go without fear of interruption. He'd almost forgotten the sensation of silence in his own head.

And that was basically his attitude towards Rinoa too. She'd been a beautiful, shining sun in his life, but now he had privacy, and blessed darkness, and that was fine too.

Really, he'd thought Shiva of all people would be able to understand the appeal of winter and ice.

There was a knock on his door and he glanced up, surprised. It was nearly seven o'clock, and the office wing was usually long-abandoned by now. He knew, at least, that Xu had taken her leave hours ago.

For a time, staying in his office had prevented distraction since most people who sought him out didn't think to look there after five, but it seemed he'd been found out. He'd have to find another place where he could get some work done. Maybe out in the fire cavern or something.

The knocking didn't let up, and presently, he heard the door slide open. Well that was odd, he could've sworn he'd locke-

Oh, it was Quistis. Of course. She had clearance to override most of the locks in the Garden, least of all the dinky one he'd set on his office door to keep overzealous janitors and mischievous cadets out while he was working in the evenings.

There were stronger locks he could have set, but he didn't really see the need. He almost dared some poor, unsuspecting soul to force their way into the proverbial lion's den.

In the end, there wasn't much of value in his office—no classified info, no dangerous weapons, no nothing. Just him. So, naturally he'd assumed he would not be unduly interrupted. Apparently that supposition was without merit.

"I assume you have a good reason for overriding a superior's lock?"

He leveled a withering gaze of annoyed indifference at her, but she met his eyes without blinking, matching him with an unfazed expression.

"Take it up with Cid if you like. I have a reason or two which I'm sure _he'd_ find compelling, even if you don't."

"What do you want?" he asked disinterestedly, turning back down to his work rather than waiting for a response.

She was a fool if she thought she could beat him in a battle of indifference. After all, if that was how she chose to engage him, then he'd already won.

"First, I want you attention."

He ignored her, continuing to look over the report and make notations in the margins when necessary.

Suddenly, the paper was ablaze. He dropped it immediately, casting a minor water spell even as he slammed his palm down flat on the flame. It hissed as it died. He said nothing, but regarded her dangerously over the delicate tendril of smoke rising from his desk.

She looked like she could care less about the incident report which now had a singed hole in its middle. He made a mental note to ask Xu to file another copy. He already knew what she'd say if he complained: go take it up with Cid, I dare you.

"You were supposed to be in the garage at 6:30. Tonight is Matron's birthday and we're all having dinner in Balamb to celebrate. Laguna and Ellone are coming all the way from Esthar."

"I have work to finish."

He said no more, and tried to look back down at the smoldering paper on his desk credibly. After all, he'd never agreed to go tonight in the first place. On the contrary, he'd made it clear that they should expect his absence.

"Don't give me that. It might convince Zell or even Matron, but I work closely enough with you to know that you don't have to devote your Friday evening to reading an incident report about the flickering light fixtures in the training center…"

After a pause, she added, "…a Friday evening which happens to be the birthday of the only mother you ever knew, no less."

That elicited a scowl, and he looked up at her darkly.

"I spoke to Matron. She understands."

He left 'why the hell can't you?' as an unspoken corollary. He had neglected nothing, after all, even presenting Edea with an expensive piece of jewelry. His actions were unimpeachable.

"Damn it Squall, we wanted to come together tonight to do something nice for Matron. That you'd let your bitterness over a breakup that happened months ago cause you blow off the only family you've got like that is just despicable."

He slammed both palms down on his desk now, and she went silent.

"Get out."

"Not until I get it through that thick skull of yours—"

"Get. Out." he barked, "That's an order."

"Or maybe we just need to get Rinoa to come back and see what you've done to yourself in her absence. She always _was_ the only one that could ever talk some shame into you."

Abruptly, he pushed back his chair and rose, coming around his desk to stand with his face inches from hers. It was the closest they had ever been, and she could feel his short, shallow breaths against her face.

When he spoke again, the snarl had drained from his voice, replaced with a dark, quiet fury:

"Don't come in here and lecture me about family. Everyone who has ever pretended to care about me has left me in the end;

"They all made promises and wormed their way into my heart, determined to make me a better person, but once they'd convinced me that the way I was living was wrong they abandoned me in the end anyway. I'm just a Hyne-damned project to them, a hobby;

"So don't talk to me about Laguna- he abandoned me and my mother and never looked back. Don't talk to me about Sis- she vanished without so much as a note to say she was going;

"Don't even talk to me about Matron or Cid- she sent me halfway across the world to live the life of a mercenary and he kept quiet even when he saw my memories slipping away so I'd be able to execute the woman who raised me, his own wife, if it became necessary;

"As for Rinoa, I don't really feel like going into detail, but the punchline is the same any way you slice it. For Hyne's sake, don't talk to me about what I owe my 'family'."

He seemed to be finished, and he turned his back on her, returning to his chair, confident he would hear the sound of the door in a moment signaling her retreat. He was surprised when instead he felt her grip his shoulder and turn him back to face her.

But he never could have anticipated the look in her eyes when he met them, the churning, billowing depths of bitterness that shone out at him through the bright aquamarine portals.

"Damnit Squall, don't ever tell me everyone who's ever loved you has abandoned you. You can say that to anyone else, but don't you ever dare say it to me."

And then she spun on her heels and exited, leaving him dumbstruck in his silent office. He tried to turn his attention to the paper before him, but the ghostly staccato of her heels striking the floor of the abandoned corridor sounded in his mind long after she had departed.

oOo

From silence into silence, the sound of her boots retreated back into his mind. He was once again on the couch in his luxurious suite, though the sun was now setting and the shadows in the room had grown long.

He was astounded that he could've been such an idiot. It was a good thing Shiva hadn't been there- he would've been ashamed if she'd seen him acting like that.

It was bad enough that Quistis had.

At the time, he hadn't even rightly understood what she meant, the implications of those dark depths behind her eyes.

He had been foolish. He understood now. Even the restored memories provided additional clarity on the matter of his stupidity.

She had never abandoned him. From the time when they were children playing together until the day she had waved goodbye from the back window of her adoptive family's car, she had been by his side, for all the days before Sis left, and for all the ones afterwards.

Then fate had brought them together again at Balamb, and without even the memory of their previous connection she had found her way back to his side. She had come to grips with her feelings for him light-years before he could do the same with his own for her, and she had suffered for it.

And then she'd followed him across the world, over steaming deserts and through bitter cold, into ancient labyrinths and torturous imprisonment.

Even when he had walked away from them all, away from the mission, she had followed him through the bleak salt flats, making sure he never collapsed under the weight of the lifeless girl on his back. The girl he loved, instead of her.

So patiently she followed him, waiting for him to catch up with her.

He realized abruptly that he was still being an idiot. He'd delayed his proposal under the assumption that he had to come up with some gimmick, some perfect way of asking her just as she deserved.

She didn't want a gimmick. She wanted him, and she'd wanted him for so excruciatingly long, and it made a bit of sense now why she'd finally decided not to wait any longer and to just propose herself.

And hell if he was going to let her. He'd spent the vast majority of their adult acquaintance spurring her into compensatory action by having the emotional pace of a Tonberry.

She deserved a special, beautiful proposal, but she deserved one sooner rather than later, and that was more important than coming up with a gimmick.

Squall glanced over to Lionheart's case to reassure himself that the ring was still there, and rose from the couch to switch on some lights. Quistis would be back to get ready for the gala soon, and he didn't fancy explaining to her why he was sitting in the dark, brooding.

o0o

A/N: Chapter 3! And we have advanced the plot…not at all! But memories are fun, and especially in an 'established romance' fic like this they are very useful for providing the otherwise absent back-story. The 'storybook' from the first memory is, of course, based on Final Fantasy itself.

Thank you for reading, and thank you so much for the reviews!(I cannot put a sufficient quantity of exclamation points here without being obnoxious…) I've decided to post responses here, but feel free to let me know if that bothers you. Please review if you have comments or questions—as you can see below, I am sure to get back to you.

BowKnight: Glad to hear you like it (: The GFs being an integral part of the story, you really have to approve of this take on them to enjoy this one! Unfortunately, I won't be able to feature too many more of them, but I can only imagine they'd all have pretty interesting personalities.

Andrew: One fresh, steaming cup of update, comin' atcha. I've been busy with school, so sorry for the delay. I try to shoot for one chapter per week.

Lunavixen: As ever, thanks for your support of the fandom and this story! We Quall-shippers all owe you a debt of gratitude for your work on such a comprehensive C2. I will try to continue and ultimately finish this one so it can earn its place on the list.

anonymous: Thank you for the very same. I couldn't sustain a fic like this without the support and comments of readers to keep me on track and motivated.


	4. A Dance With Cactus Jack

**Chapter 4: A Dance With Cactus Jack**

"Quistis dear, you look magnificent," Edea pronounced, sweeping the younger woman into a warm embrace.

While the biologically childless Edea was Matron to hundreds, she remained especially attached to the exceptional crop of six which had been her last. And Quistis felt particularly like a daughter since Cid doted on her so fondly.

Even now, the Headmaster's face had broken into that wrinkle-wreathed smile of his. He gave Squall a familiar nod and an amiable handshake, but all his pride and joy was for Quistis.

Edea, meanwhile, gave her son the same hug she'd given her daughter.

"Still as handsome as ever and still as reluctant to show it," she noted, pushing a few stray locks of hair out of his eyes, "Its getting a bit long, isn't it dear? Why don't you come by this week and I'll cut it for you and send you away with a berry pie."

"Alright Matron," he replied, running a hand through his hair and effectively ruining any progress she might have made.

The older woman held out an arm, and Squall took it, walking her towards the ballroom doors. Quistis walked on his other side, escorted by Cid.

"I can't believe after I've been telling you to get a haircut for weeks all Matron has to do is so much as mention it and you've got an appointment," Quistis muttered, feigning offense.

Squall shrugged, inclining his head to whisper, "You never offered to make me pie."

"I never impaled you with an ice shard either," she muttered dryly, carefully keeping her voice low enough that Matron couldn't hear. The incident remained a sore spot for the ex-sorceress, in spite of the fact that any resentment Squall might have felt had dried up long ago, leaving nothing in its wake save two faint irregular scars marking entry and exit.

"Don't think I've forgotten about the time you hit me with bad breath…" he whispered in reply.

"I was confused!"

"So was I, after that…"

_**And silenced, and slowed, and poisoned…**_

_Are you done?_

_**All part and parcel of the upkeep of your memory.**_

Ignoring her, Squall stepped fully into the ballroom, and was immediately greeted by an overpowering sensory burst of springtime. Coinciding with the burgeoning of the season, the celebration found the ballroom abounding with flora, a palate of pastels, greens, and golds.

"Is that smell really just from the flowers?" Cid wondered aloud, "Selphie didn't perfume the entire ballroom did she?"

"I don't know, but Ifrit says he's checking out for the night. Apparently being in this room is like staring directly into the sun," Quistis said, unequipping the GF to let him out of his misery.

_**Good riddance…**_

_Watch it Shiva. I can always linger near the hot buffet and see how you do. _

_**You become so irritable at events like these. It's a miracle I can even stand to put up with you.**_

_You're one to talk. _

Shiva never showed much tolerance for his aversion to social events, mostly because such gatherings generally found her in a foul mood herself. They were quite the pair. It almost made him wish he'd formed an inexorable bond with a more stoic GF like Alexander.

_**I heard that.**_

_Look, if you and Ifrit don't learn to coexist on terms other than mutually assured destruction, I'm going to start making you two share pet houses._

_**The horned one and I are summer and winter, frenzy and stillness, passion and indifference- we were born for mutually assured destruction. And you know how I **_**despise**_** the term 'pet houses'.**_

He knew. He remembered quite vividly what had happened the first time he'd brought her to the 'pet shop' in Timber.

She cackled wickedly at the memory, but Squall still felt the tip of his nose and ears grow momentarily numb in the bitter chill of her chastisement. Edea shivered slightly beside him and pulled her shawl more tightly around her shoulders.

"Well, m'boy, what say we get some refreshments for the ladies?" Cid asked, gesturing in the direction of a distant tray of champagne. Squall nodded immediately, seeing by the shift of the Headmaster's eyes that it wasn't just chivalry that was on his mind.

Sure enough they had gone no more than ten feet before Cid began speaking in a hurried whisper:

"I know Edea doesn't like business interfering with gatherings like this, but you and I both know that a SeeD is always on the job, so I trust you won't mind helping me with a bit of reconnaissance?"

Squall raised a curious eyebrow.

"As the main candidate for the teaching position, Ms. Arden has been invited to this ball. Marcus Gideon, Headmaster of Galbadia, who I think you've already met, is escorting her."

"I thought Arden had already been selected. Isn't that the purpose of this celebration?"

Cid sighed and scratched the back of his head, "I was supposed to have confirmed the decision by now, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to discount the rumors that surround her, and I haven't been able to get a straight answer as to whether they're real trouble or just political hogwash."

Squall tried to restrain himself from scowling. If there was one thing worse than a gala, it was an extraneous gala. After all, if the rumors turned out to be serious and Cid selected another candidate, there would undoubtedly have to be another gala as well.

"You think you can learn something tonight that will help you make up your mind?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. Gideon has been dodging my inquiries right and left, but if I can put him on the spot in person I'm quite sure I can press him for some real answers. That's where you come in. I need you to extricate Ms. Arden from his side so I have a bit of time to interrogate him."

Squall frowned, picking up two glasses of champagne from the tray before him.

"With all due respect Sir, this is a mission for Quistis. She's a much more engaging conversationalist…"

Cid reassured him with a firm smack on the back, causing the champagne in his glasses to undulate dangerously close to their rims.

"Not at all, m'boy, you'll do fine," he replied, seizing two glasses of his own from a passing waiter's tray with a chuckle, "and besides, as _engaging_ as Quistis might be, I believe she may have her own reasons for turning down my proposal…"

Inwardly, Squall sighed.

_I suppose you heard that?_

_**How could anyone fail to hear it? The round one's meaning could not be clearer...It matters not- there will be few opportunities for privacy this evening. Simply be on your guard, for your own opportunity draws near. This may be your last challenge.**_

Squall nodded, pulling out of his thoughts as they arrived back with Edea and Quistis, who had been joined by Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Nida and Xu.

"You finally return," Quistis greeted them, already a quarter of the way through a glass of champagne.

"Ah, my dears, you've already gotten your own refreshments," Cid replied, looking bashful.

"Never mind darling, there is a reason why you are a headmaster and the waiters are waiters," Edea responded, relieving her husband and Squall each of one of their glasses and setting them down at a nearby table.

"So Headmaster, is the new instructor here yet?" Zell asked, glancing around the room.

Normally the red trim of the Galbadian uniform would have been a dead giveaway, but Cid had at long last given in to Selphie's agitations for a non-uniformed event and there wasn't a trace of Galbadia crimson or Balamb gold in sight.

"Yes, the party from Galbadia should be here," Cid responded, looking around briefly, "Aha!"

Everyone turned to where he was looking, but all they could distinguish in the crowd was the dark, short-cropped hair of a head that stuck out above the rest.

"I thought Arden was a chick?" Zell whispered to Nida, who nodded in sympathetic confusion.

"That's not Elise, that's Marcus," Irvine interjected, waving as the dark head began to bob through the crowd. Sure enough, the figure seemed to have caught sight of the cowboy hat and was making his way in their direction.

"Headmaster Gideon, might I say again how glad we are that you were able to make it," Cid said, after only a few long strides had brought the tall, lean man before them.

Martine's replacement at Galbadia was still young—he could be no more than ten years their senior— but he was already an imposing figure with a full jet-black beard and a pale complexion. Gleaming, deep-set eyes of pale blue stood out starkly among the contrasting tones of his hair and skin.

Next to him, Squall himself was dwarfed—dwarfed, but not daunted.

He gave the new headmaster a firm handshake and eyed the man unflinchingly, refusing to allow the upward tilt of his gaze to temper its sharpness, "A pleasure, Headmaster, as always. We hope Arden will be every bit as excellent as your reports indicate."

"Please, call me Marcus," the headmaster replied without skipping a beat, "Ms. Arden is truly an exceptional agent. Galbadia will feel her loss keenly."

He made the rounds of the group, greeting each of them in turn, and giving Irvine an especially warm handshake.

"So, Marcus, don't tell me you forgot to bring the woman of the hour?" the cowboy asked.

"Really, Irvine, do you think I would have allowed him to do so?" A woman stepped out of the crowd and moved to stand next to the headmaster.

"Ah, Elise, always impeccable in your timing," Marcus noted.

A slight woman, Elise Arden created an especially powerful contrast when she stood next to a giant like Marcus Gideon. She was built like a gymnast, a perfect match to the slimness and delicacy of the rapier she notoriously wielded. With dark hair that fell in ringlets around her face, her beauty was undeniable, but severe.

"Commander Leonhart, our paths cross once again. It is a pleasure, as always," Elise began, seeking him out.

"I wasn't aware that you and the Commander were acquainted," Marcus said, looking from Squall to Elise.

"You were the duelist on the Domino Mission," Squall said, receiving a nod of confirmation. The memory took him by surprise. He wondered if it could have inadvertently influenced his recommendation…

"Your memory serves you well. But then, we blade-wielders share an intimate connection through the sword, having both tasted its edge and driven it home. I look forward to us working together more intimately," Elise responded.

_**Who does this little person think she is? She should watch her tongue…**_

_What are you on about?_

_**Don't be naive. She intends to have you already. It burns forth from her smug eyes.**_

_I think you might be reading into her eyes too much_._ Besides, even if she is interested, I'll be affianced before the week is out and then she won't be so smug, will she?_

_**I suspect she will still be equally smug. That, detestable though it may be, is immaterial. Oh, I despise people lacking the barest modicum of subtlety…if she thinks she can just waltz in and take whatever she wants, she is sorely mistaken. There are some who do not give up what is theirs without a fight.**_

_Are you referring to Quistis or yourself?_

_**Both. **_

"…the decorations are truly superb. I saw some flowers I recognize from home among the arrangements," Marcus was saying, to Selphie's great delight.

"That is really nice of you to say! No one ever seems to appreciate my decorations," Selphie replied, drawing vehement protestations from Irvine.

"He's right though Selphie, everything looks great," Zell agreed, "and it sounds like the dancing is gonna start soon, so excuse me while I go find my partner."

He headed off in search of his date, that girl from the library whose name Squall really needed to make a better effort to remember. She was nice enough. Didn't talk much, which he liked.

"Can I interest you in a dance, Commander Leonhart?" Elise asked.

"Now Elise, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about Balamb hospitality just cuz you made the mistake of asking Squall here for your first dance…" Irvine began.

Cid was giving him a pointed look. Squall swallowed. He hated this job sometimes.

"Alright."

Suddenly everyone was staring at him as if he'd just agreed to dance with a malboro. Everyone, that is, except for Marcus, whose face was inscrutable, Cid, who looked quite pleased, and Elise, who had a touch of each.

He felt a mild course of irritation run through him. Honestly, how incompetent did they think he was? Obviously he had improved since that rocky night of his SeeD graduation ball. Rinoa had seen to that.

"You uh…sure about this boss?" Irvine asked, tipping his hat up skeptically.

Squall rolled his eyes and held out his arm, which Elise readily took hold of, pulling him out onto the dance floor.

"No dancing for us Headmasters, eh Marcus? Can I interest you in some _hors d'oeuvres_?" Cid asked, guiding the taller man away.

oOo

Shiva did not enjoy dancing. Not that Squall blamed her— being in someone's head while they whirled around in circles was understandably unpleasant.

_Do you want me to unequip you until we're done?_

_**Absolutely not. I have no intention of leaving you with the little one.**_

He turned to his partner and bowed, focusing on keeping his body straight without making his movements stiff as Rinoa had always taught him. He strained to recognize the music.

_**It is a waltz. The music may be unfamiliar but the meter is just as you practiced. Start on one. Ready? One, two, three, and one, two, three, and…**_

He stepped, moving as he'd practiced so many times with Rinoa. He didn't much care for dancing, no, but that certainly didn't mean he couldn't do it perfectly adequately with enough practice. He'd subjected his body to far more demanding regimens than the waltz.

And it helped that Shiva had given him a counting start just as Rinoa used to when she insisted that they practice every Sunday, spinning around his dorm room in their socks.

"You're much more approachable than your reputation would suggest. I had heard that your Guardian Force was the warmer of the two of you," Elise noted, spinning past him.

"People change. Sometimes their reputations take time to catch up." He caught her with a hand on her waist and stepped into the first movement again.

"I hope your reputation isn't so far from the truth in all respects…" She stepped back slightly, drawing in her skirt.

"Was there anything you were particularly concerned about?"

"I must admit, I'm curious to know if you're as unbeatable as they say. I've heard no opponent can match you…" They sidestepped together, turning again in unison.

"I wouldn't go that far…Quistis still beats me at least half the time."

He saw her eyes go wide as they spun away from each other.

"Quistis Trepe? What is she to you?"

"She's my lieutenant," he replied, rather surprised that she wasn't familiar with the senior power structure of the Garden she was slated to work at.

_**That is not what she means.**_

He could tell by Arden's expression that Shiva was right. He took his time in the next turn. It was always such a difficult question. 'Girlfriend' seemed so…trivializing. And the other options were just weird.

"We're together," he finally added, to which she fell silent. By the next turn she had regained herself.

"And you say she has beaten you? I'd heard she was good but I didn't…" the rest of her statement was swallowed up in a musical crescendo.

"She's actually better than I am," he said as they returned to their initial positions, "but I've got a complete deck."

Mimicking the music, they came to a standstill, and faced each other. She fixed him with a look of irritation, belied by the coy smile at her lips.

"Really, Commander, you are a tease. I try to size you up and all I can get you to talk about is a children's card game," she clucked, taking his arm as they walked from the dance floor, "sidestepped at every turn…most frustrating,"

"You asked for a dance. I was only complying."

"Alright, you'll have no further complaints from me. Though I must say, I'm no less eager to see how you move off the dance floor…"

Zell hurried up beside Squall, his girlfriend rushing to keep up with him.

"Hey man, that was awesome! I didn't know you had moves like that," the blonde man exclaimed, elbowing Squall amiably.

"You were really good, both of you," his girlfriend added shyly.

They had reached the group of their friends now, and Irvine turned to acknowledge them.

"Sir, allow me to shake your hand," he said, giving Squall his cheekiest grin.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Squall ignored the outstretched hand and surveyed the group. Cid was back, his arm around Matron, and he gave Squall a grateful nod. So he'd apparently found something useful after all.

"Where's Quistis?" Squall asked, gently removing his arm from Elise's.

"She and Xu went out to get some air and look at the ocean," Selphie replied, indicating one of the balconies that abutted the ballroom.

Nodding his thanks, Squall gave a slight bow to his partner and headed towards the balcony.

"I hope we can dance together again before too long," she called after him.

oOo

Hearing his approach, the two women turned, acknowledging him with a pair of nods. Squall noted to his relief that the balcony was populated with a half-dozen other couples and trios, largely ignoring them but still likely to forestall any proposal attempt.

He also noted the goosebumps spanning Quistis' bare shoulders and removed his jacket, laying it across them gently, as he remembered her doing in the library so many years ago.

"Thanks," she said, slipping an arm around his waist, "It really is colder when we're out at sea like this. I guess I was counting on Ifrit sticking around…"

"I think I have a flare stone in here…" Squall offered, turning to Xu even as he fished in his pocket for the familiar sensation of the warm stone.

"No no, don't worry about me. I was just heading inside," she protested, downing the rest of her champagne. She skipped away, humming under her breath.

"What's she so pleased about?" Squall asked, watching her go.

"Oh, she's got her eyes on Gideon. They hadn't met before today, but she was the one in charge of getting him settled in before the ball, and apparently he gets flustered every time she talks to him."

"She'll have to tell me her secret. He didn't so much as blink when I gave him my sternest look earlier."

"I don't think stern is the avenue she went…"

"Well she better not be serious. I'm not about to lose one of my most competent people to Galbadia. This Arden thing is an acquisition, not a trade…"

"I wouldn't worry about that. Xu's been at Balamb longer than either of us and it's going to take more than a pair of pale blue eyes to make her leave…and by the way, do I want to know why you keep a flare stone in your tuxedo pocket?" Quistis asked, giving him a scrutinizing look.

"Let's see what's in that purse of yours and then we can talk," he replied. She chuckled, but out of the corner of his eye, he noted that her grip on the article tightened almost imperceptibly.

_**That was interesting…**_

Squall didn't reply. He leaned against the railing, feeling her warmth pressed against his side, watching as the gleaming crests of the waves danced below. For once, he was having a hard time letting an impending proposal worry him.

Selphie had specifically chosen a night when the moon was full to bursting up in the sky and it was she who had convinced Cid to order the Garden moved out over the ocean. It was still slightly chilly, but warm breezes bespoke the coming of spring.

Shiva unfolded herself happily in his mind, pleased to be through with the twirling and out of the stuffy ball room.

"So, is Arden as deadly a dancer as she is a duelist?"

"She's certainly better than I am…at dancing anyway."

"Well, if she shows as much interest in the cadets as she does in the commanders she should make an excellent instructor," Quistis murmured.

_**Here, here.**_

Squall tipped the side of his head against hers, sighing lightheartedly. There was something almost mystical about how close the darkness and the moon and the familiar presence at his side and in his head felt tonight. Something deeply satisfying...

"I think that whole dancing thing was just an excuse to size me up. We're bound to cross swords sooner or later. She wants a piece of me, no doubt about that."

_**She wants more than a piece.**_

"She wants more than a piece."

Squall laughed as he heard the same sentiment run through his mind and his ears in unison. Quistis arched an eyebrow at him, curious if he meant to deny it, but he shook his head.

"You and Shiva are on the same page," he offered by way of explanation.

_**Yes, and it is the correct page.**_

"Just because you two like me for some reason doesn't mean everyone does…the one she wants a date with is Lionheart."

"Come on, even Diablos agrees with Shiva and I. Are you really trying to tell me you're less socially perceptive than a gravity demon?"

_**I'm so embarrassed…**_

He shook his head and was just turning to respond when he noticed that she was absently fiddling with the clasp of her purse. Perhaps he would do a bit of reconnaissance work of his own.

"You know I'm always happy to carry things for you, seeing as I get to have pockets…" he offered, treading lightly.

"No, no," she responded immediately, "I'll hold onto it for a little longer."

That would have been enigmatic if he hadn't known exactly what it meant.

He leaned back against the railing, letting the matter drop. He only needed to last one more night. Come Monday, he'd be ready. He could tell she was deep in thought, though her eyes had settled upon the doorway and the fleeting figures that passed by within.

Without facing it, he could picture the seamless curtain from sea to sky; the sky dappled with light from the moon and stars and the waves mirroring its sparkling inkiness. He had to imagine that if she was going to do it, it would be soon. The crowd on the balcony had thinned and the stragglers were paying them no mind. Had he underestimated her boldness?

_**This is not a favorable position.**_

Squall inclined his head, leaning back to gaze up at the smiling moon.

"You know I've wanted to talk lately."

He said nothing. Shiva said nothing. The moment had come. His heartbeat rose to meet it.

"I've had no luck with roundabout introductions or indirect questions, so I'll get straight to it…"

Sure enough, he heard the snap of the purse being opened. He stared upwards at the sky. The moon, the stars, all winked reassuringly at him. He found it impossible to muster up any unhappiness, though vague disappointment settled in. In a moment he would turn to her and it would no longer be possible to deny.

"I have an important question to ask you…"

He heard the sound of a small object striking the deck. She'd dropped it. Her hands must have been shaking. She'd be bending to retrieve it now, feeling for it in the shadow of the railing.

He watched the moon and the stars, feeling the inexorable pull of time. Tilting further back, he tried to catch a glimpse of the ocean, but it was way too far for him to safely lean. It felt like minutes had passed, but he knew it could only have been an instant. He reached out his arms to brace himself on the railing.

But the horizon was still tilting and suddenly he could see the line of the ocean. He frantically tried to catch himself, but his limbs failed to respond.

He felt the instant when the balance tipped and he began to fall. Quistis was still searching for the ring. Where was Shiva?

_Diamond Dust!_

He tried to shout it, but no sound left his lips. And suddenly he knew why. She was already coming.

Air was rushing past him. Then he collided with the icy waves and the air became water.

In his mind he convulsed and struggled, but his body remained as still as a dead man's. His lungs, not knowing to adjust, breathed normally, and he tasted brine.

Shiva raced back to him, having no doubt realized that he needed his body more than he needed her at the moment. Besides, she couldn't move freely in the water. He felt himself brushing past ice.

Shiva slammed back into his mind just as it began to shut down. The cracks in his vision had become dark fissures. All was cold and darkness and then, nothing.

o0o

A/N: The end. Did you like the story? Yes, I'll miss Squall too! I hope you weren't looking for a happy ending!

Just kidding, of course, (and a day late for April Fools too…) this one's not over quite yet. A bit more to go, and perhaps an epilogue if you and/or I aren't done with it. This chapter introduced some OCs, which I am loathe to use, but prevent me from having to put, say Selphie, way out of character or vilify Rinoa, which I am somewhat more loathe to do. Also, I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to Diablos, the poor, innocent gravity demon who gets heaped with so much abuse in this story. I'm actually quite fond of the guy, but that doesn't seem to save him from getting caught up in Ifrit and Shiva's scheming, does it?

Next chapter may be somewhat delayed because of school ramping up (April really is the cruelest month) but as always:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading and for the reviews. Now on to the responses!

redmangobliss95: Thanks for your comments! If you aren't a quall fan and you can still tolerate this fic than I must be doing something right…and yes, I like the GFs too. I wish their personalities were more developed in the game (Ifrit's comment about Shiva in the Fire Cavern implies to me that they have them canonically to some extent…) Also, thank you so much for catching that random string of characters in the second chapter! I don't know how it got there (wasn't in my original doc…) but I was able to fix it right away thanks to you! Incidentally, I don't know what a Hhededfjweoi is, but I think it is weak to fire…keep your eyes peeled for vengeful Trepies 0_0

Jebus Creiss: Man, another non-quall fan! I feel like the elephant in the room- next time will have to just write a story about Shiva XD. Thanks for the comment, and I'm glad to see I've got at least one person checking me on my canon details. I have to admit, I did not replay the game in preparation for this fic, and though I try to fact-check whenever I can, I'm sure there's plenty I miss. The question of how everyone ended up at Garden and when they met each other is a really good one, and indeed a bit of a shot in the dark on my part since the game is somewhat vague on how exactly it worked. I was trying to reconcile their respective levels of training/age at the game's start with a timeline that would allow them to grow apart and forget their orphanage years. So yeah, thanks for keeping me honest!

Okiro Zangetsu Evangelion: Thanks for commenting again. I liked the memories chapter too, even if it is a bit…scattered. I guess it's my way of referencing all the parts of this story I will probably never get around to fleshing out properly.

lunavixen: Ah, glad to see at least one person reading this story is a quall fan. Yeah, the memory chapter was fun and educational (the former for us, the latter for Squall). Thanks for the comment!


	5. Bare Knuckles and Belt Buckles

**Chapter 5: Bare Knuckles and Belt Buckles**

"…swallowed a bit of water, but it's hypothermia I'm most worried about— for him _and_ for her."

The words drifted languidly into his consciousness. The voice was familiar, but elusive, and he struggled to refine the vague notion into something more specific.

_**You have returned.**_

Shiva had, of course, immediately noticed the stirring amongst the foggy tendrils of unconsciousness. He had never heard her sound quite like that. Her voice had an edge of circumspection he wouldn't have thought her capable of.

Finally, along with the sounds, sensation began to pierce through his mental haze, and right away he felt a sense of suffocation. There was so much heat, and a splitting pain in his head. The urge to push away the source of the discomfort was strong, and he wondered idly whether his limbs would obey him, without quite knowing why. He decided to try.

"No you don't."

His arms met resistance and he forced open his eyes. The stern gaze of Dr. Kadowaki was the first sight that greeted him. Cid and Selphie were standing beside her with decidedly more worried expressions.

"Squall, are you okay? Can you understand what we're saying to you?"

His eyes narrowed.

"What am I doing here?"

Green walls, that silver UFO-shaped lamp, and a large observation window…dipping into his memories, he tried to recall what had brought him to the infirmary.

And then it all rushed back at him—the sky, the sea, the air, the water.

Great Hyne, had he really fallen over the railing into the ocean?

"You fell over the railing into the ocean!" Selphie confirmed.

Kadowaki shook her head wearily, "Well, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected when they pulled the two of you over the rail, dripping with seawater, though I must say it ruled out my hopes that Quistis might have rounded out your more reckless tendencies…"

His mind snapped to attention.

"What happened to Quistis?" he demanded, trying again with as little success to rid himself of what felt like no less than fifteen blankets weighing down on him. The three looked at each other, coming to a silent consensus that Cid should field the question.

"I don't know the full story because I was inside at the time," he began, "but according to eyewitnesses on the balcony, you somehow fell over the railing. Unfortunately, we still haven't fully instituted nautical safety measures on the Garden, since nobody really anticipated using it as a boat in the first place…"

Kadowaki shook her head again as the Headmaster trailed off.

"Long story short, we aren't equipped with any life preservers," she finished.

Cid nodded and continued, "Fortunately, Quistis saw that you weren't surfacing and dove in right after you. Of course she's had extensive training in this sort of thing. Scored top marks in her rescue practicum as I recall. Really, no one better to have around when one takes a tumble off a balcony…"

His chuckling ceased when he saw the rather pointed look Kadowaki was giving him.

"…which, er…we all do at one time or another…what I mean to say is that you were apparently already unconscious by then."

"We haven't been able to ascertain why, as she went in after you almost immediately," Kadowaki added, almost thoughtfully.

"In any case, Quistis managed to cast a float spell on the two of you and tread water while the others on the balcony ran to get help."

From here, Selphie took over:

"We were inside dancing when a bunch of people ran in shouting about how someone had fallen overboard and we all rushed out onto the balcony just before Cid ordered the doors closed and everyone back to their rooms, and then Quisty was in the water, and we couldn't believe it when the person she dragged up over the rail with her was you!"

She paused to take a breath, trying to find some sign of reaction in Squall's opaque face. Most people would have said he made none. Selphie, however, could read faces like fortune tellers read palms when she concentrated, and she saw the way his jaw tightened an iota. She hurried on with her story.

"Anyways, you know how Irvy's always insisting on bringing that rope around everywhere with him? Well he pulled it out and we hoisted you both up and that was that! Both of you were shivering and icy cold, and you were all pale and motionless—we were all a little freaked out…"

Selphie frowned. His scowl had deepened and he was looking away from her. She wondered if that meant he was having a conversation with Shiva.

Determined to lighten his mood, she continued: "It was so funny about the rope thing though…No way I'm ever going to be able to talk Irvy into leaving it behind after this."

The joke fell flat. He seemed not to have heard her. Cid cleared his throat to fill the silence.

"Well, I'd better go tell the others you're awake. Edea's been shuttling between the two of you, trying to distribute her worrying equally. She'll be quite relieved to know you've regained consciousness."

Giving Squall a pat on the shoulder, the Headmaster exited the room, leaving the Commander alone with Selphie and Kadowaki. The Doctor immediately busied herself with his chart, and Selphie sat down in the low blue stool by his bedside.

"You know, Quisty and Matron…and everyone really…they're all going to be so happy to hear you're okay. You really had us scared there…" she said.

Stifling a yawn, she noticed the champagne flute she'd abandoned on the window ledge in the rush of arriving, and lifted it to take the long-delayed last sip.

Squall shut his eyes tightly. He had fallen off of a balcony and disgraced himself in front of practically the entire Garden.

Even if most of the gala's attendees had been banished before they'd rushed him to the infirmary, there were doubtless plenty who saw, including the delegation from Galbadia. Any who hadn't seen would undoubtedly soon hear.

And besides all that he had put Quistis in danger. He knew why such normally temperate waters had been icy that night.

Shiva stirred in his mind, but said nothing in her defense. It wasn't really her fault. She'd only been trying to prevent one final proposal. She couldn't have realized that he would lean over the railing at the same moment she would paralyze him.

Still, in the shadows of his mind, the guardian could sense quivering emotional specters, demanding release, demanding satisfaction. Squall's fingers tightened around a handful of fabric.

Then, abruptly, he shoved off the blankets and pushed himself from the hospital bed.

"Squall, what are you doing? You can't get up yet, you're not recovered!" Selphie cried. Ignoring her, he made a beeline for the door.

_**I never thought I'd say this, but the absurd one is displaying more sense than you. Return to your sickbed at once until you are discharged.**_

"Mr. Leonhart, stop right there," Kadowaki ordered. She had dealt with untold numbers of difficult patients in her time (including Squall Leonhart on more than one occasion) and refused to be cowed, "She's right, you are not recovered and you will not leave this infirmary until you are, do you hear?"

"I'm fine," he spat, glowering at the indomitable woman.

_I fell into some water. I would hope my training has prepared me to handle that._

_**Really, you're behaving like a petulant child.**_

"Don't be ridiculous! Hypothermia can have severe after-effects, including throwing the body's temperature regulatory system completely off kilter, and besides, we have yet to ascertain exactly why someone perfectly healthy like yourself passed out for no apparent reason in the first place!"

"You can see for yourself that nothing's wrong with me," he retorted, feeling the hair rise on his neck.

"It's not necessarily anything any of us can see! The root of the problem may well be in your head!"

He ignored her, acknowledging privately that she was more right than she knew.

They had removed his soaked Tuxedo, redressing him in standard-issue navy Garden pants and a white shirt, but he spied his still-moist keycard on the bedside table.

_**Don't!**_

He seized it, swiping it in the reader beside the door, striding into the next room before any of them could further protest.

Everyone was there waiting, though they seemed more than a little surprised to see him.

He stopped at the foot of the bed where Quistis was lying, and his heart did a little dip when he saw her there, so utterly still and rather pale. But he had seen death before, and his mind was quick to correct his heart in its assumptions.

Besides, Selphie had plainly told him that Quistis had been the one to pull him out of the water. He was the one that should be dead, if anyone.

"Hey, man, what the heck are you doing? You shouldn't be up!" Zell said, seizing his shoulder firmly. Selphie and Kadowaki had come running in from the other room. Squall's mind wandered longingly to the exit.

_**You've seen her like this and you still intend to walk away?**_

His eyes locked on the slumbering form before him, and a rival desire arose in him, to relax his muscles and take the nearby chair, to sit by her side and wait for her to awaken. Shiva paused, watching the development closely.

He looked up to see a host of worried faces, and in the forefront of them all, Matron, concern etched in every crevice of her lined countenance. And then he knew he could not stay here. Not be fussed and worried over and patronized for falling over a balcony. Not become that helpless little boy again. He was alright and he had to believe she was too. He simply couldn't stay.

"Let up, man."

"Come on, Boss, don't mess with the Doctor."

"Squall dear, what's wrong?"

He felt Shiva's disapproval like the biting gust of winter.

_**If ever there was a time when you were asking to be paralyzed!**_

"Would you just be quiet a minute!"

The others gave a collective flinch, and he realized too late that he'd spoken the order aloud. He glanced at Quistis, but she must have been sleeping more deeply than usual for she did not stir. It gave him an idea…

The grip on his shoulder tightened, and without a second thought he muttered a sleep spell. The unsuspecting Zell abruptly hit the floor, snoring.

Then Squall brusquely headed for the door, unequipping Shiva and leaving the others behind without a second thought.

oOo

In his wake, the group stood dumbfounded. Nearly all of them crack SeeD agents, yet the room was silent. No one moved, as though Squall's spell had affected them all.

"Um…should someone go after him?" Xu asked, breaking the silence.

"No one's going to be able to find him if he doesn't want to be found, and frankly I wouldn't envy the person that did after that…" Irvine replied, yawning widely.

"I could make a PA announcement," Cid suggested.

"I don't think that's a very good idea, dear," Edea replied firmly, "Irvine, you'll go after him, won't you?"

Irvine removed his hat and scratched his head thoughtfully, "Unless Dr. Kadowaki objects I say we let him be. He's a grown man and if he wants some time alone, he should have it."

They all looked to Kadowaki, who sighed heavily, "In theory, he should be fine. So long as he remains in the Garden there isn't much that can harm him, nor any significant temperature variation."

"Everything's been locked down for the night, so that shouldn't be a problem. And there's always Shiva to keep an eye on him," Selphie replied.

"What about Quistis?" Edea asked, turning back to the doctor.

"She's basically stable as well. No sense in waking her and moving her now. If fact, I'll probably get some rest myself, though of course I'll be nearby in case anything comes up..."

"Then we'll leave her in your care. Thank you for all your help tonight, Ruth," Cid said, "I think I'm also going to turn in. I suggest you all do the same."

"I might stick around…just to keep her company," Xu replied, moving her seat closer to the bed.

"Suit yourself," Irvine said, turning to Zell, "Alright big guy, time for bed."

He gave the martial artist's shoulder a firm shake, but Zell just kept right on snoring.

"Man, he's really out…" Irvine noted.

"Well, you know how to cure sleep, right?" Selphie asked, slinging her heels over her shoulder by the straps to carry them back.

"Sure do." He smacked Zell across the face, causing the martial artist to leap to his feet almost immediately.

"Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Would you two keep it down! If she wakes up and starts fretting about why her bonehead of a boyfriend is gone I'm going to go to bed and leave you two to deal with the situation," Kadowaki grumbled.

"He better be back when she wakes up. He better be right here in a chair, by her side, or I swear to Hyne I'll kick his ass…" Xu muttered, giving her knuckles a menacing crack.

"And he better get his own chair," she added, scooting hers in possessively.

One by one, the rest retired, hoping Quistis would be okay here in the hospital bed, hoping Squall would be okay wherever he was.

oOo

She woke gradually, feeling rather groggy and confused.

_**Are you well, Little Apple?**_

A wave of reassurance came over her, knowing that Ifrit had returned, and she gave him a mental affirmative. Looking around the room, she saw that she was alone save for Xu, fast asleep in a nearby chair.

It was odd—she didn't actually remember falling asleep herself. Cid had been trying to calm her. She'd been rather upset as she recalled. Reaching for the glass of water on the table by her side, she paused when a snarl sounded in her ears.

_**It does not smell right.**_

_What are you talking about? What does it smell like?_

_**It smells like deep slumber. Had I been with you before I might have warned you…**_

Setting the glass down firmly, she frowned, trying to shake the now explained haziness from her mind. Really, she had to have been in quite a state for them to successfully slip her a sleeping agent.

Images suddenly flashed across her mind. A trail of bubbles shooting from his nose and mouth to the surface. Water so frigid it burned. Her shivering arms wrapped as tightly as possible around his utter stillness.

She sat up immediately, pushing back the pile of blankets gently so as not to wake the slumbering woman beside her and noting that someone had changed her out of her wet dress and into a generic navy Garden outfit.

_**He is not here.**_

Panic gripped her. He'd been alive when she'd pulled him up, unconscious but alive, water sputtering from his mouth in time with Kadowaki's steady pulses on his chest.

_**He has gone somewhere. No one knows where he has gone. **_

Observing her instant reaction to rise, Ifrit continued.

_**Perhaps you take another measure of rest before seeking him out.**_

_I won't sleep. I shouldn't have slept before. If I'd been awake he wouldn't have gone off like that…_

Ifrit growled, but held his tongue. He little cared for the fact that Shiva's flair for the dramatic seemed to be rubbing off on her young charge.

_Can you tell where he went by his smell?_

He gave a raspy sigh, and analyzed the various strands of odor milling about the room. Agitation mixed with a liberal dose of shame, all intertwined with the familiar strains of leather and mild aftershave—yes, that had to be Shiva's boy.

Quistis gave a final look of gratitude to her devoted, slumbering friend and silently pushed herself off the bed. She gingerly took her purse from the nearby table where she'd deposited it in the rush of arriving and padded around the sleeping woman, towards the exit.

Fortunately, Quistis had spent enough time as Xu's roommate to know she was a fairly heavy sleeper. Still, the uncomfortable infirmary furniture wasn't exactly going to be helpful in this case. Quistis winced at the sound the doors made when they opened, but the other didn't wake.

Making her way down the hallway, she moved under Ifrit's direction, around the central circuit, up the elevator and down the hall until she stood before Squall's office door and the guidance ceased.

She knocked and called to him, but there was no reply. Swiping her card, the doors shot open, but the office was empty.

_**He was here.**_

_And then?_

Ifrit was silent a moment, no doubt straining his senses. She walked about the room, but if he'd been here, Squall had left no sign.

_**The smell becomes muddled here. I cannot separate his various comings and goings from one another.**_

Sighing, Quistis sat down in his chair, trying to think of where he might have gone. The next obvious place would be their room, though its obviousness would seem to rule it out in this case.

She leaned back, trying to massage some of the haze out of her mind and think of what places were likely, but not too likely. A great weariness was beginning to settle over her, and she had half a mind to give up the chase and go to sleep then and there in his chair.

Then when he came in later that morning (he wasn't one to miss work— that would just be interpreted as proof that something was wrong) she would refuse to move and that would teach him to send her wandering all over the Garden in pursuit of him.

_**The ice queen can find him.**_

She sat up in the chair.

_What do you mean? Isn't she with him?_

_**She is not. I believe he dismissed her shortly after awakening.**_

That couldn't be good. When Squall and Shiva had a falling out, it was generally not an indicator of a healthy mental state.

_You think she can find him even if you couldn't?_

_**Much though I am loathe to consider the ice queen capable of anything beyond my own abilities, I must confess that in this case, it is likely so.**_

_**When we guardians descend from the immortal plane, we must find the one among billions who has called to us. That is why we are delayed in coming at the summons of an unfamiliar mind.**_

_**But the ice queen has a deeply-established connection with the boy, not unlike our own. She will know his mental landscape down to the smallest blade of grass. For her, finding him, even among billions, is the most trifling of tasks.**_

_But then shouldn't you be able to find him yourself? I mean it might take longer, but Squall's certainly summoned you in battle before. Or Diablos maybe?_

_**I think it unlikely. When we are summoned, it means a mind is reaching out to us, and that can make all the difference.**_

Conceding to his expertise, she experimentally stretched her own mind out to the immortal plane. Sure enough, Shiva was unequipped. Quistis hastily formed the necessary mental connection, reaching out to the icy presence at the fringes of her consciousness.

Ifrit gave a low growl, and his mane stood on end, but he managed to restrain himself from any further reaction. Diablos' tail twitched nervously. He was quite certain no mind was big enough for the two of them, certainly not one that he was in.

_Shiva, can you hear me? _

She knew her connection with Shiva was poor in comparison to Squall's, but it should have been more than sufficient in this case. Her mind was filled with a tense silence as they waited.

_**Do you hear? Your boy is in danger! If you are any kind of a guardian at all, you will swallow your pride and give answer. **_Ifrit's words were nearly lost, cloaked as they were in a deep snarl, and Diablos hushed him hurriedly. Once Shiva and Ifrit came to blows there would be nothing productive to be had from either.

_Shiva, I need to find Squall. Will you help me?_

_**The horned one forgets his place. A guardian does not function as a monitoring device. If he does not wish to be found, then let him be.**_

Shiva hovered above her consciousness, removed enough to confirm her aloof stance, but close enough to keep Ifrit squirming.

_I suspect his mental state at the moment is not good, to say nothing regarding his physical state. But you were with him after he woke up— no one should know that better than you._

The icy guardian fell silent, and Quistis could tell Ifrit was on the verge of snapping at her again.

_Please— I'm not the one that needs help, he is._

_**The horned one will leave.**_

_I can't do that Shiva, I need him to keep my temperature up and so will Squall._

Shiva scoffed, and Quistis half expected her to comment that body heat was overrated.

_**At the very least he will guard his tongue more assiduously.**_

_**My tongue? It is not **_**my**_** tongue which was disagreeable to my charge and caused all this trouble in the first place.**_

_**No indeed. I cannot imagine anyone so foolish as to give your tongue enough of a chance to find it disagreeable in the first place. **_

_**Insolent ice wench!**_

_**Foolish flaming brute!**_

Quistis sighed, wondering why she'd thought this was a good idea. She could feel a headache coming on and suspected that Diablos could sympathize.

_Ifrit, quiet; Shiva, Squall. Now._

There was a moment of blessed silence, and finally the icy guardian spoke.

_**I see trees…**_

_Trees? He's in the forest? But how did he get outside?_

_**And those venomous little beasts…**_

Quistis shot up from the chair and dashed for the door. If he was really outside and encountering caterchipillars she didn't have any time to lose. Did he even have his gunblade with him? She began to mentally calculate how long it would take her to dash back to their room and retrieve her whip.

_**Filthy little things with their disgusting appendages beating above them in the air…**_

Halting abruptly, Quistis' mind did a flip. That didn't sound like a caterchipillar. It sounded like...well, like a malboro or an ochu…

_**Or a grat?**_ Diablos interrupted her rambling.

And then it clicked. The Training Center.

oOo

For about the thousandth time that night, he wished for Lionheart, or at least Shiva. Well not Shiva. After all, he could do without the paralysis of his limbs.

Grats were nothing to him these days. Give him his old Revolver back and he could still mow through them like a lawnmower through grass.

It was funny to think back on them as the behemoths they'd seemed in his early days at the Garden (at that point, of course, he had yet to meet an actual behemoth). In Introductory Beasteology they'd gone over them so many times he could still recite their scan data by heart:

_Its body is mostly a digestive bag. Digests enemies by catching them with its vine. Uses a gas attack that causes Sleep._

Three simple lines, combined with the knowledge they were being bred just across the Garden; it was the most effective instrument of terror the upperclassmen could have asked for. That was when he'd started leaving Revolver in its case by his bed, though at the time he still couldn't lift it, let alone hope to swing it at a hostile digestive system.

And now, here he was without any weapon at all, and no GF meant no magic junctions, to say nothing about the fact that the chill was getting hard to ignore. What temperature was Cid keeping this place at, anyway? He was beginning to suspect the palm trees might be fakes.

Lurching out of the way of a bombardment of whipping vines, he closed another foot of distance between himself and his opponent.

Fortunately, he had spent enough hours sparring with Quistis to be somewhat of an expert at dodging the lashing edge of such weapons. Unfortunately, he was the only one here, and he seemed to have the undivided attention of every set of deadly swinging appendages in the vicinity.

He advanced on the nearest one and sunk his fist deep into its bubbling maw, wincing as the digestive juices contacted his knuckles. Withdrawing, he plunged his fist back into the same spot, where it sunk deeper.

All things being equal, Zell probably could have taken out one of these guys in a single punch. It took Squall four.

The creature's whipping vines went limp and it keeled over, a puddle of gastric juice already forming around it. He massaged his aching knuckles, wiping the stinging stomach acid against his pant leg. Gunblades aside, he was really starting to miss his gloves right about now.

Seeing the flaccid limbs, he almost felt bad for the little gremlins. He was, after all, basically using them as a receptacle for his frustrations.

Such thoughts were cut short by a sharp pain that sliced deep into his thigh, and he grunted to hold in the curse that aspired to echo through every corner of the training center.

He bit back such cries as a point of pride— screaming didn't make the gunblade slice any deadlier, and silence could unnerve an opponent just as much as a battle cry, though he and Seifer differed on that point.

Catching the offending appendage before it could snake away, he gave it a firm yank, pulling its owner after it. Jerking it around in a circle, he released it with a surge of momentum. It shot over the nearest row of palm trees, a lash of digestive juices streaming out in its wake.

Unperturbed, others closed in, and Squall prepared for another round of dodge and strike.

He lunged into a roll as a flailing limb cracked inches above his head, but his leg buckled and he was forced into a half crouch, half kneel, gripping his throbbing thigh. The wound was narrow, but deeper than he'd realized, and he sucked in his breath, pressing to end the crimson flow dripping down his leg.

A cure or a potion would have been nice, but without a GF neither was feasible, so a belt would have to do. Fortunately, Squall was a bit of an expert at rigging things up with belts, and though he had only the single Garden-issued article at the moment, it would serve.

He hastily unbuckled it and wrapped it around his thigh, double looping it and cinching it tightly enough to stem the bleeding but not so tightly that it restricted blood flow entirely.

Back on his feet, his breath was still a bit uneven, but the makeshift bandage held. In spite of the chill, he could feel sweat beading on his brow and neck. His shirt was dotted with small holes where the gastric splatter had burned through.

He hurled himself at the grat on the left, but just as he came within arm's reach he felt the sickly spew of gastric juice strike his shoulder. An itchy sensation pervaded his entire body as poison set in.

Wincing, he was got in only a single strike before he was forced back again, lingering beyond the reach of the grats' bombardment. It had honestly been so long since he'd been in combat without a GF that he hadn't thought seriously about the limitations it posed. Namely no magic, no junctions, and no items.

His wounds weren't terribly serious—the worst was his leg and that was stable for the time being. But the poison, while minor, would persistently eat away at him until he did something about it. He needed to find a refuge from the monsters and equip a GF.

Suddenly he heard a familiar crashing sound coming towards him, which was either the most monstrously overgrown grat ever, or a T-Rexaur. It roared an answer through the undergrowth, apparently furious at being disturbed. In all honesty, he had been wondering when one of the primordial beasts would show.

_Alive since the beginning of time, its power and HP are very high. It's better to run if you encounter one, _he mentally recited.

Whoever had written that one must have either had a wicked sense of humor or no personal experience with T-Rexaurs. He knew better than to expect anything that had pursued life so doggedly to let _him_ get away without a fight.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't choose his battleground. He headed for a tree-laden area where the unwieldy beast would be hindered, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of the purple vapors of a magical wellspring.

He doubled back for them instinctively. A familiar cool sensation shot through his body, and with it a vague wistfulness for Shiva, as well as the now obvious recollection that he couldn't draw without a GF either.

All other alternatives exhausted, he turned, looking straight into the jade green eyes tucked into the brick red face. He shook off the momentary bite of the poison. If nothing else, it would be nice to have something solid to ram his fists against after the squishy grats.

And despite its towering figure and massive stamina, he stood a decent chance so long as he kept moving. The creature's stubby, ineffectual arms posed no threat, meaning he just had to watch for those razor-lined jaws.

And besides, he didn't have to win. He simply had to convince the beast he was not worth the trouble. Not easy, but certainly not impossible.

The crushing teeth attempted to take a bite out of him, but he dodged away, and they clicked together in thin air. For all his power, T-Rexaur wasn't nearly as fast as the whipping grats.

Squall lunged onto its back, climbing on all fours up the winding path of the vertebra until he knelt between its shoulder blades. He immediately began plunging his fists into the tough side of its throat. The onslaught elicited a furious roar from his opponent, though little in the way of visible damage.

After he'd pummeled it for a solid minute, it finally managed to buck him off, and it was all he could do to land on his feet at the creature's side. He noted with satisfaction that the spray from its livid roar left his shirt marked with tiny flecks of blood.

Suddenly the creature turned, catching him unawares with its swinging tail and sending him sprawling back onto his stomach in a nearby clump of underbrush. Another course of the poison wracked him and he shivered, trying to prop himself back up. Was it getting colder in here?

He flipped onto his back just in time to see the T-Rexaur's enormous snout descending towards him, sniffing for its misplaced prey. Warm breath condensed as it trickled from the enormous mouth and nostrils, becoming a thick fog as it mingled with the cold air.

He glanced down to see that his own breath was condensing as well. But it couldn't possibly be that cold. Not unless…

_Shiva_

With every ounce of strength he could muster he lunged. The force of the beam still slammed him onto his back as it raced by. A primordial cry pierced the air as the fury of a hundred winters tore through, leaving a glistening furrow in its wake.

Squall raised an arm to shield his face from the explosion of razor sharp ice he knew was coming, the memory of Edea's frozen pikes ripping unbidden through his mind as they had once ripped through his flesh.

The familiar sound of shattering came, like a glass house struck by an earthquake, but the pain never did. Cautiously, he opened his eyes. Then he lowered the protective arm, revealing none other than Shiva herself, levitating just before him, shielding him from the vicious hail.

The T-Rexaur was not so lucky, and its body struck the ground with a resounding crash, sending grats skittering out from behind palm trees and underbrush and fleeing to safety.

She turned down to him, and their eyes met. They regarded each other silently. He felt like a cadet again, looking up at her for the very first time, eyes wide with awe and admiration, blushing furiously at his first sight of female nakedness.

Abruptly, her lips curved into a half-smile, and she extended her hand. The cadet withdrew, and it was the commander who reached out to grasp it. She pulled him up to his feet, vanishing into him the instant they would have collided.

Finally, he stood alone, flexing his fingers tentatively to banish the numbness in his hand.

Quistis felt her connection to Shiva fade and Diablos let out a sigh of relief.

_Better, Ifrit?_

_**Indeed, though her smell lingers…**_

The GF blazed within her, intent on smoking out every last trace of the ice queen from her mind.

Quistis, meanwhile, began to make her way over to Squall, who looked much worse than he must have felt because he seemed to be standing pretty well. Turning to see her approach, he moved to meet her, managing to affect a fairly unburdened gait.

But about a foot away, one of his legs gave way, and she dashed over to catch him, slinging an arm around his shoulder to prop him up.

"How many times am I going to have to rescue you tonight, I wonder?" she muttered, slowly lowering the two of them down to the floor of the training center where she could have a better look at him.

_Diablos, can you be relied upon to keep the monsters away?_

The guardian did not miss the warning in her tone, nor the glare of intimidation Ifrit loosed in his direction.

_**Without fail.**_

That settled, Quistis returned her attention to the man sitting beside her, cataloguing every inch of him, from his disintegrating shirt to his bloodstained pants. Not nearly as bad as she'd feared. The only visible wounds she noticed were the shallow slice in his left cheek, its bright color contrasting with the faded hue of his old scar, and the raw patches spanning his knuckles.

"One of the vines got my thigh pretty good…" he muttered, reaching out to undo the belt looped tightly around his leg. She was so used to him wearing belts there she hadn't even noticed.

He made to undo it, but his hand was shaking and it wouldn't come. At last, she caught his hand, giving his wounded knuckles a gentle, almost absentminded kiss, a momentary taste of bitterness and copper meeting her lips. Then she released the hand so he could prop himself up, freeing up her own arm from having to do so.

Gingerly, she unclasped the belt herself, letting it fall to the ground. Then she pushed back the ruddy edge of the fabric, revealing the gory channel the grat's whip had carved. Very well. This was where she would focus her healing.

Placing a calm hand over the wound, she dug deep into her stores of magic until she hit upon the serene sensation of a curaga. As the incantation passed her lips, she felt the flesh knit itself back together beneath her palm.

The small mark on his cheek also sealed itself, leaving a slightly lighter layer of new skin as the only sign it had ever been there. Noticing the slight pallor of poison, she mustered an esuna for good measure.

Quistis let out a sigh and drew away slightly, allowing him to stretch and test his newly rejuvenated muscles. Besides her curaga, magic of a variety of other flavors was pulsing through him once again, his junctions fully restored.

She didn't really know what to say. This was the way he was, the way he'd always been. One didn't develop the healthiest of coping techniques as a mercenary. Still, there was a part of her that wanted to finish what the T-Rexaur had started.

Instead, she pulled him into her arms and held him tight as the belt looped round his thigh. He did not resist, but nor did he immediately reciprocate, and the sensation of holding his motionless body in the water returned to her.

Then his arms encircled her waste, and his head came to rest on her shoulder, hair tickling her neck. She put her hands over his, running her thumb absently along the mended knuckles, biting back proclamations about how glad she was that he was okay and how worried she had been.

Their relationship had developed around the understanding that both of their lives were in regular danger. They'd long since made an uneasy truce with that reality. Still, there was coming to terms with something, and then there was complacency, and someone in their profession could hardly afford the latter.

He murmured something that could fairly be interpreted as an apology into her shoulder.

She accepted it silently. No need to inform him that he'd been stupid and reckless. His tone told her he already knew.

"We should try to contact the others. I would guess that they're very worried about you. Matron especially." Squall might have developed an understanding with her, but that didn't mean he was any less in need of reminders regarding his friends.

"I'm not sacrificing my dignity any further for their Hyne-damned peace of mind," he muttered, "and besides, they're probably all asleep by now anyway."

He was as stubborn as ever, and though the worried girlfriend in her wanted to insist that he march right back into the infirmary, the SeeD in her rather understood his restlessness. After all, they were fine, and it was late, and all she wanted to do was curl up beside him and bring this protracted episode to a close.

Just the thought of it made her eyelids droop dangerously.

"…are we going to sleep in the Training Center?" he asked after she was silent a moment.

"No, we're going to sit here a minute while I figure out what to do and then we're going to go back and sleep in our bed like normal people. I don't know about you, but I have work tomorrow."

"Save us on the commute…" he mumbled.

"Oh? And do you plan to convince Cid you don't have any lingering mental damage when you turn up for work tomorrow in your lovely new grat-gut t-shirt?"

"Lingering mental damage…" he scoffed, "I only fell in because _someone_ picked the wrong moment to sabotage my motor control."

_**Or because someone picked the wrong moment to ignore proper balcony safety precautions…**_

"I know," she replied, "I figured as much when I hit the water and it was thick with ice. That's the only reason I'm not dragging you back to the infirmary myself."

"You couldn't drag me if you wanted to."

"Ha, that's funny coming from the man whose saturated corpse I hoisted out of the ocean a few hours ago."

He rolled his eyes, yawning widely, "Do you really have to keep bringing that up?"

She said nothing, and picked up her phone, dialing in a few digits from memory.

"What are you doing?" he asked, lifting his head to see the screen. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him back down against her.

"Hey Xu…yeah, it's me …ye—er, well, no I'm not there…I just went to find Squall…um…the Training Center…no, listen, it doesn't matter, thank you so much for staying with me. You should go back home and get some real sleep…no, both of us are really fine. We're going to do the same. We'll check in with Kadowaki tomorrow, I promise."

There was a long pause and Squall waited in silence.

"…I know, I know. But we can talk to Cid first thing in the mor—are you sure? Tha—yes, I'll call you tomorrow…We'll probab—Oh, Xu, you're the best. 'Night."

She ended the call.

"I'll be lucky if I get any work done tomorrow with all the 'checking in' you've scheduled me for," Squall complained.

"Kadowaki said we didn't have to come in if we didn't feel up to it," she replied, placing a kiss on the top of his head, "and how can your hair possibly still be damp?"

Suddenly he felt a wave of warmth travel over him, and an arid wind raced through his hair, drying it almost immediately. Huddling in closer to her, he basked in the glow he could only imagine was thanks to Ifrit.

Turning his attention back to his own guardian, he smiled at the sensation of her settling into her familiar niche.

_It was rough out there without you today…_

He heard her sniff dismissively.

_**Just hurry up and recover so the horned one doesn't have to make it so accursedly hot around here. A half hour of breathing the same air as him was punishment enough…**_

oOo

He awoke again, this time in a nest of warmth in a comfortable bed. His headache was gone, and the only weight he felt was the arm of the slumbering figure beside him draped across his chest. It presently arched away to switch off the alarm.

Quistis began to make motions towards moving. He caught hold of her before she could get far, pressing himself fully against her warm back and latching his arms over hers.

"Work?" she mumbled groggily, in fair imitation of Fujin.

"Hypothermia…" he replied, nuzzling his face in her long, sleep-frazzled blond hair. She felt the tip of his nose trail along the outer shell of her ear, a tiny kiss left in its wake.

And she gave in, tumbling around in his arms to face him, pushing her head in the crook beneath his chin and locking her own limbs around him in turn.

Little did she know that in the large black case not two feet away was tucked a small band of silver, one he had every intention of making use of later that day.

o0o

A/N: Hello everyone, **thank** **you for reading and please do take the time to review**. We are so very close to the end! The final chapters will be forthcoming, though I can't say exactly when. I have to put together a number of essays in the next couple weeks and unfortunately not doing them will earn me the biggest flame of my life (and I mean flame with a big, red capital 'F')

Thanks for the reviews and the favs. It really makes my day whenever I see them in my inbox. And then I go and write fanfiction instead of my essays…

lunavixen: Buahahahaha! Thank you for indulging my poor attempt at a cliffhanger. Good luck finding more people for the group. I will continue to lay out fluffy, Squall/Quistis laced traps for them. This story is close to wrapping up (2 more chapters) but I suspect you'll hear more from me in the future.

redmangobliss95: Hey! Good to hear from you again. So what if we don't have the same pairing preferences. Clearly you have awesome fruit preferences and that's really all that matters! What? Your name is a reference to Froyo? Also delicious! Actually I never really liked Seifer much in the game but I've been reading a lot of stories recently with him in it, and he's always a really interesting character, so he's growing on me.

Danton: Thanks for the reviews! Hope you keep reading and finding things you like. This chapter we got a bit more Ifrit, which is good. Can't always let Shiva hog the spotlight.

Okiro Zangetsu Evangelion: Well put. If I were to transform this story into an 'Aesop's Fables' style tale, the morals would likely go something like this: Ch.1- Never trust a GF with a secret (or your carpet…), Ch. 2- Listen to Ifrit when he says someone is up to something. Ch. 3- Just say no to Trepies! and Ch. 4- Don't lean over balconies, you idiot! As for this chapter, the moral is a bit more for me than for the characters: Never, ever look up medical terms on Wikipedia. Especially not tourniquet. Or suture. Ever. Thanks again for the review. I really appreciate your taking the time to read and comment!

-JP


	6. The Words That Got Away

A/N: Hi all. Sorry to have been away so long. Life has been busy and this chapter gave me no end of trouble. But, there's only one more after this, so rest assured, the story will be completed in a timely manner now. A word of advice- most of you have probably forgotten some/many of the things that happened in prior chapters. This chapter is highly referential, so if you have any time, I'd encourage you to go back and read over the story thus far. You'll get much more out of this one if you do. Thank you for your patience.

-JP

**Chapter 6: The Words That Got Away**

"Hey, over here!"

Xu caught sight of an arm beckoning to her from above a familiar head of blond hair. She ambled over and plopped down beside her friend, relishing in the beautiful afternoon.

It would have been a perfect day if only she could forgo her uniform jacket. Alas, the Commander was strict on the subject of uniform protocol while on duty in the Garden. And apparently, someone had decided that a man who junctioned his own narcissistic air conditioner and wore the same leather jacket through the Kashkabald Desert and the Bika Snowfield was a competent judge of such things.

Resigning herself to the high collar and the well-starched cotton-blend, Xu spared one last ounce of envy eyeing her friend's casual garb. Of all the times to break character and be the overdressed of the two…

Fortunately, Quistis had claimed one of the few shady spots left in the quad. Every other decent shadow in sight was occupied by lounging students, a fair number of whom should undoubtedly have been in class. Xu matched their posture, reclining in defiance of the prickly blades of grass which promised to make her neck itch for the rest of the day.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"On a day like today? How could I feel anything but wonderful?" Quistis replied, reaching into the bag at her side to pull out two lunchboxes wrapped in handkerchiefs. She held one out to Xu, who swung up into a sitting position, taking it eagerly.

"Wow, you really made lunch for both of us? Well this is going right back in the fridge…" Xu set her carton of leftovers aside.

"I'll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell. We have Squall to thank for lunch today."

"My lips are sealed. I think the Commander's pride has taken enough of a hit recently," Xu replied, moving on before her friend could protest the abuse, "He's so into cooking these days, who would've guessed?"

"Well, he always did like to be underfoot in the kitchen when Matron was cooking. Most of the time she'd let him stay if he'd sit still, but once in a while when she was really fed up with him she'd give him a swat on the butt with her wooden spoon and make him go out and play."

"Hm, you'll have to remember that technique."

Quistis rolled her eyes, "Speaking of technique, did you ever get to have another talk with tall, pale, and handsome last night? Squall was worried he'd whisk you back to Galbadia with him."

"Marcus and I talked for a bit before all the chaos, but I haven't run into him since, so who knows. I think they're heading back tomorrow, but you can reassure Squall that I'm certainly not leaving Balamb to go after a guy. If anything, the headmaster can resign his post and come here."

"You'd really make Galbadia find a new headmaster all over again?" Quistis asked, taking a bite of her lunch.

"Why not? If we're taking Marcus they can have Arden back as far as I'm concerned."

To this, Quistis said nothing, chewing her food thoughtfully. The low hum of conversation and the buzzing of bite bugs off in the field filled the silence, punctuated occasional by the faint crack of a distant gunner practicing his aim.

At last, Xu glanced about to make sure there weren't any cadets in earshot and pulled herself closer to her friend.

"Alright Quisty, what's bothering you?"

Quistis paused in her chewing to give Xu a puzzled look.

"Look, we've known each other since the first day of Garden orientation. We were roommates for six years. I can tell when something is bothering you."

Quistis shook her head and shrugged, turning away to watch a bumblebee zooming from flower to flower. She absently shifted the rice in her lunch with her fork.

"There— whenever something is bothering you, you start picking at your food like that…" Xu began, noting with satisfaction that Quistis' hand froze.

"…AND, the bites you do take, you chew forever. Stop projecting your problems on that perfectly innocent food so you can ruminate on them more literally. We both know something is up so just spit it out."

Quistis made a face.

"…okay, poor choice of words, but you know what I mean."

Finally, the blond rolled her eyes and swallowed, making sure her mouth was totally clean so she could click her tongue disapprovingly at her friend.

"You are such a busybody—really, you're like a manipulative version of Selphie," she chided.

Xu shrugged and took an especially unabashed bite.

"Of course you're also right," Quistis continued, "creepy though your knowledge of my eating habits is…the thing is that Squall's been acting really strangely lately…"

"What do you mean?" Xu replied, her face tightening into seriousness immediately. The dark-haired SeeD had two modes, business and pleasure, and the ease with which she moved between them bordered on the schizophrenic, much to the unease of her students.

Quistis, however, noted her friend's seriousness appreciatively. Neither often needed the other's help, but both had it, always. She shook her head, as if trying to gather the strands of her scattered thoughts.

"He's just been really hot and cold. One minute he seems warmer and more comfortable with me than ever, and the next it's like he's my student again and I can't get a word out of him…"

Xu's eyebrows shot up, "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Like when I was walking with him to lunch last Thursday. I was trying to feel him out on the whole marriage thing, but as soon as I got within ten miles of the subject he completely shut down. Wouldn't say more than a few words, wouldn't even really look me in the eyes…"

Quistis paused to see if Xu would comment, but the other woman silently urged her to continue instead.

"On the mission to the Island Closest to Hell he was distracted the whole time. At the ball he danced with Arden, and then later he just started to get really quiet and nervous."

"Was that before or after he fell off a balcony?" Xu replied, deadpan.

Quistis winced, "I just don't know what to think. His behavior is all over the place and it seems like the proposal attempts are triggering him."

Xu seemed to think on this for a moment, and then ventured cautiously, "He's been acting a bit strangely at the office too…"

"What do you mean?"

"The other day I heard a woman in his office, you know, the day he had that big leak? It sounded like she was arguing with him about something."

Quistis eyed her friend skeptically, "Squall's no Irvine but I hardly think talking to a woman in his office constitutes strange behavior."

"No, but the strange thing is that I was at my desk the whole time and no one came in. And I didn't recognize the voice either. And then it goes quiet and I knock and no one's there when I come in. Just Squall alone behind his desk."

Quistis shrugged. That was certainly strange, but not condemning in and of itself. And after all, one did have to adjust for the abnormally high levels of bizarre-ness that had accompanied the world's heroes throughout their lives.

"Maybe it was Shiva?"

Xu shook her head, "Why would he summon Shiva to talk to her? They can have a perfectly decent argument in his mind and when she's summoned he can't even respond."

"And that's not all," Xu continued, "he was making a phone call the other day, which was unusual in the first place because he never puts through his own calls. He always asks me to put them through."

"True enough. Remember when his phone died on that mission in Centra and he had to call the main Garden information number so he could tell Cid he was going to be late?"

"Of course. The only one _worse_ than him is Cid, who doesn't actually know phones exist and can't understand why no one's thought to install an international intercom system yet…"

Xu continued, "…Anyway, he calls someone on his own in the first place, and in the second place, halfway through the call he comes to the door and puts on the privacy setting. I didn't even think he knew it had one."

"How strange…there was a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket the other day with a weird phone number…"

"Do you remember what it was?"

"Not the whole thing, though the prefix was-"

"777?"

Quistis' look confirmed that Xu was right.

"How do you forget a number like that, right? It's the Esthar prefix, and it was part of the number he called that day too."

"It could be a coincidence…"

"Who does he know in Esthar? Are you seriously trying to tell me he's having clandestine telephone conversations with his fathe-" suddenly Xu paused mid-thought, eyes narrowing as if on prey.

"Elise Arden is from Esthar. She comes from a prominent family of engineers—I read about it in _The Garden Gazette_. Didn't the number have a name by it or anything?"

"There was something I think, but it was scratched out…" Quistis tapped her fork on the edge of her lunch container and exchanged a look with her best friend.

Finally, with a weary sigh, she continued, "I understand there's a lot of circumstantial evidence here, but this train of thought is ridiculous. Squall is not having an affair. He just isn't that kind of guy."

"Let me get this straight. Squall comes home with a strange Estharian phone number in his pocket with the name crossed out, the owner of which he has phone conversations with which he doesn't want me to hear, sneaks women into his office, and starts acting really, really strange the very week Arden, whom he insisted on hiring, transfers to Balamb?"

Xu took a breath, "and honestly, all that I could probably believe was a coincidence, but there's also the little fact that he's been blowing off your obvious attempts to propose to him!"

"It could be he just didn't reali-"

"Come on Quisty, the man's not an idiot!"

"He can be about these things…"

Her friend gave her a gentle look.

"Quisty, so can you."

Silence. Looking down at the large remainder of her lunch, Quistis felt an uneasiness move through her. It was true enough, what Xu said. 'Orphan' and 'mercenary' each had their respective set of emotional neuroses, and when you got the best of both worlds…

"Quisty, I know you love him. From the first day he walked into your classroom you were a lost cause. Maybe even before then…but you can't ignore the truth because you're scared of what it might be. Trust me, whatever it is, it's going to catch up with you guys one way or another."

When her friend said nothing, Xu continued:

"Maybe he isn't having an affair but maybe he's freaked out about commitment and he's thought about it. Or maybe he just wants to take things a little slower…"

She noted the pained look that crossed her friend's face and pressed on hastily.

"I don't know what's going through his head. If there's anyone in this world I'd trust to be a decent judge of that, it's you. For Hyne's sake Quisty, just don't let him hurt you. "

Eying her friend, Quistis chewed on her lip.

_Ifrit, what do you think?_

_**I think he smells more and more like the ice queen every day…**_

Quistis knitted her brow.

_And what does she smell like?_

_**The ice queen does not smell **_**like**_** anything. Other things smell like her**_, Ifrit replied, as if it was the plainest truth in the world.

_**By Hyne, I'm not sure what that means, but it certainly sounds very romantic**__, _Diablos interjected dryly.

_**What? What did you say?**_

Diablos continued, doing his best to ignore the fact that the air in his immediate vicinity was on the verge of combustion.

_**If you want my advice, I would urge you to trust him.**_

_**Ah yes, the sage counsel of an imp who has spent the last eon sealed alone in a charmed piece of earthenware!**_

Diablos paid no more mind to the demon than he had to the flames. Let fire war against ice. Gravity would remain aloof.

_**The fire demon is correct. I am no expert in human affairs. Still, I know your mind like every curve in that lamp. Your knowledge of him—his personality, his character, his motivations— weighs heavily on the side of trust. Let the burden of evidence that unseats it be equal to the task. **_

Quistis' eyes refocused, and she found herself meeting the patient, determined gaze of her friend.

"At this point, there's no proof that anything's happening with Arden. This evidence is still circumstantial and I refuse to lose faith in him until I see some direct evidence that he's going behind my back…"

"…But, at the same time, I have to admit that he is quite clearly avoiding the proposals and generally acting extremely out-of-character. And that is something I need to follow up on."

Xu nodded, standing with a stretch, "That seems like a fine place to start. I'll keep an eye on him during the day and let you know if I notice anything off. Speaking of which, I should probably get back. Work does tend to pile up with both of you out of the office," she said, passing effortlessly back into easy familiarity.

Quistis glanced at her watch and groaned, "Oh no, you're already late! Tell Cid I was holding you against your will."

"You forget— I'm Squall's office manager now, so he's the one I have to report to."

"In that case, I'll put in a good word for you myself," Quistis said, rising to give her friend a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Xu winked and gave her a friendly salute, "Just take it easy until you're back to one-hundred percent, okay? And tell Squall he can make me lunch any day!"

Quistis nodded, watching her friend head back in the direction of the Garden's central circuit. One more thing to tell Squall. She'd just add it to the bottom of the list.

oOo

As Quistis approached the room she heard the sound of voices, and slowed just slightly to mitigate the sound of her approach. Coming to the door, she took her time retrieving her keycard.

One of the voices belonged to Squall— that much was clear. The other one sounded only vaguely familiar, but she had a bad feeling she knew who it was. It was female.

She wondered idly if it was the voice Xu had heard…

The door slid open without warning and sure enough, Elise Arden stood there, eyeing her in an entirely inappropriate way for a guest in a house to eye its proper occupant.

"I thought I heard someone lingering on the doorstep," she commented as Squall walked up from behind her.

"Quistis? What are you doing out here?"

"I was just getting home. What a pleasant surprise to find that we have a guest."

Quistis sidestepped the other and stood next to Squall, smiling cordially. She had to remind herself that neither of them could hear Ifrit's crackling growl or feel the sensation of ears flattening against a mane.

"Ah, yes…" a smile twitched onto Arden's features and then faltered, "In any case, I was just on my way out. Best wishes to you both. Good day." She turned on her heel and marched off down the hall.

"Next time, let me know when you're stopping by so I don't miss you," Quistis called after. Then she headed inside, leaving Squall standing alone before the gaping door.

Without bothering to mask the scowl that emerged, Quistis turned towards the kitchen. Xu's empty lunchbox went into the sink, and she tossed her own on the counter. Impulsively, she opened the refrigerator and retrieved a bag of grapes from within.

"Something wrong with this?" Squall asked, lifting her largely-untouched lunch to examine it.

"It was fine. I just wasn't that hungry." She popped a grape into her mouth.

His eyebrow raised slightly, "Something wrong with you?"

"What was she doing here?" Quistis replied, ignoring his question.

"People are talking about what happened at the ball. She came to see how we were doing," he said crossly, "I let her in even though I was busy…"

"Why?"

He glanced up sharply, pointing insistently to the pile of clothes dumped on the couch, "I was folding the laundry."

_Could've fooled me_, she thought, noting not a single folded article.

"No, I meant why did you answer the door in the first place?"

He shrugged, "I didn't want anyone assuming something was wrong because we didn't come to the door and causing another episode."

Carrying her grapes over to the dining room, Quistis stopped short when she caught sight of the vibrant bouquet lying on its side on the table.

"She brought us flowers," Squall said, coming up behind her.

Quistis walked over to the table and picked up the card. 'To Commander Leonhart', it said.

"For us, eh?" she asked, chewing thoughtfully. She tossed the card back onto the table and proceeded over to the living room, plopping down on the couch only to jump back up. Pulling aside the cushion, she was shocked to discover tucked within the folds an untouched bottle of champagne, along with two glasses.

"You were having some champagne too, I see…"

Squall blinked, muttering something about how he had no idea how it had gotten there, and then took it, along with the two glasses, putting them out of sight in the kitchen, though not before she noticed the label.

'Tears of the Moon' was an Estharian champagne which had only recently begun to be known with the gradual opening up of the introverted nation.

Egregiously expensive and notoriously difficult to acquire outside its domestic borders, she had only tried it once, when Laguna had secured a precious few bottles for Selphie and Irvine's wedding. Had he said something about it being for lovers, or was she misremembering?

"So you told her I live here too, eh?" she said, staring blankly ahead as he walked back into the room.

"Yeah, though she basically figured it out on her own."

He indicated the pile of clothes again. Prominently near the top was a pair of underwear that was distinctly feminine and read 'Quistis' in black, bold letters.

A couple years before she'd received them as a gift from Irvine, who'd informed her with a wink that there was a price break after the first six. And she'd kept them for some reason in spite of the fact that she lived in terror that the Trepies would someday learn of their existence.

Now Squall wouldn't let her get rid of them, claiming they were extremely useful for someone whose line of work cause his memories to vanish on a regular basis.

Yes, that pair was fairly self-explanatory.

"That grape. You're torturing it."

"Great Hyne, why is everyone so avidly scrutinizing my chewing!"

His eyebrows knit, as though she'd presented him with a particularly nasty riddle.

"What's wrong?"

She tapped the armrest of the couch absently, "What makes you think anything's wrong?"

The two of them looked at each other, and as his eyebrow arched she let out a burst of nervous laughter which only made him look at her more strangely. Shaking his head, he turned to the laundry, muttering conspicuously about the damaging effects of hypothermia.

_Come on Quistis, get a grip…_

She took a calming breath and made a conscious effort to swallow the grape before speaking again, arms crossed, "So now my dirty laundry has quite literally been aired out in front of Arden…"

"Your clean laundry…" Squall corrected, "And what was I supposed to do, tell her it was Shiva's misprinted underwear?"

He grimaced, holding his head.

"You tell him, Shiva. Give him such a brain freeze that he'll never enjoy ice cream again."

Quistis headed back into the kitchen to put away the grapes, pushing the remains of her lunch in as well. When she closed the refrigerator door, Squall was standing there, looking at her intensely.

"Do you want to go get ice cream?"

"What?"

"Do you want to go get ice cream? Because now that you've brought it up, Shiva isn't going to shut up about it until we do."

It didn't look like she was going to have much choice in the matter, because he was already reaching for his jacket. Ignoring Ifrit's grumbling, she checked to ensure she had gil as well as her keycard safely tucked into her pocket.

Admittedly an outing to Balamb would provide the perfect chance for them to have their little talk, and after all, she was _so_ looking forward to that.

oOo

Stepping out onto the field, Squall could hear Shiva humming happily. The sun was out, but a determined breeze was weaving its way along, causing the grass to shuffle and the heat to disperse.

There were bite bugs buzzing, and he unsheathed his gunblade with zeal. Whether it was Shiva's or his own he couldn't tell, but it felt good.

_Crack_. Save the Queen snapped the first one out of the air, so he took to another, feeling a chill fill the air as he caught it with a downward stroke.

_**Move aside, tiny vibrating beasts!**_

Her tone was disturbingly gleeful.

They continued on, swatting at any insects that came near, trying to best each other. It was five-all, not counting the one which had spontaneously burst into a block of ice. Seeing one buzzing up ahead, Squall lunged for it.

_Bang._ Lionheart bit into empty air.

The bug fell dead at his feet. Scowling, he glanced up in the direction of the bullet that had felled it. Sure enough, firmly planted behind the barrel of his rifle was Irvine Kinneas, and behind him, the band of first years he was instructing on the finer points of fighting stances.

"Watch it, Kinneas! With your aim you're as likely to shoot me as the bug," Squall shouted, ignoring the giggles of the cadets.

Irvine shot them a grin, "Aw, don't listen to him. The Commander gets sour whenever I remind him that _my_ gun actually fires bullets. You lot work on your stances, I'll be back in a tick."

There was a chorus of overzealous 'YES SIR!'s accompanied by clumsy salutes before the cadets took to their practicing.

"Hey Irvine, how's the class going?" Quistis asked.

"Not half bad—this year's crop can really hold a stance. How're my two favorite invalids?"

Squall scowled at him for the comment and Shiva scowled at him for holding them up. So he turned to Quistis.

"We're fine. Just headed out to get some ice cream in Balamb," she replied.

"Ice cream, eh? Man, that hypothermia recovery sounds pretty rough."

Squall scoffed, "Look, I'd be doing laundry right now if I hadn't been interrupted by Arden and then Quistis and then Shiva with this."

"So basically what you're sayin' is that you couldn't do chores because you got interrupted by a series of beautiful women? Man, I might have to get some hypothermia myself!"

"I bet Shiva could help you with that."

"What, don't tell me she's got a sister," Irvine replied, a grin spreading across his features.

"Good. I was due for a reminder on why we will never, ever let you junction Shiva," muttered Quistis.

"Shouldn't you be teaching?" Squall shot back.

"Oh yeah, I suppose. Not all of us get Monday afternoons off for ice cream dates with lovely ladies..." He cocked his hat and winked at Squall.

"Good luck Irvine. It's reassuring to know these cadets are getting their lessons in posturing from the best," Quistis said, continuing on her way. Squall nodded his regards and followed her.

"Don't worry bosses, I'll train 'em up good for you," Irvine called after, and turning back to his students, "Alright you rapscallions, back to work!"

oOo

"I'll have the coldest thing you've got."

The clerk gave him an odd look, before finally offering, "We've got some unopened stuff in the freezer out back..."

Squall nodded, feeling for some of the stray gil that floated around in his pockets. When he'd gathered enough, he set it on the counter and waited for the man to return with their orders. Emerging, the clerk handed Quistis a raspberry chocolate swirl and Squall a block of mint chocolate chip.

They made their way to the harbor, finding a spot to sit on the dock's edge, out of the way of the avenues where the busy fishermen rushed to and fro. She discarded her shoes, dipping her feet into the water, and he silently followed suit. Before long, the gentle waves were swirling around their ankles tamely, in stark contrast to the vicious thrashing of the previous night.

Squall prodded the ice cream with his spoon, noting that it left no indent.

_I'm not sure I can eat this_.

_**Nonsense. Put it in your mouth and see what happens.**_

He managed to pry off a hunk of it, sliding it into his mouth and chewing vigorously until he finally felt confident enough to swallow.

The familiar numb of brain freeze set in, and he shivered from head to toe. Shiva sighed blissfully.

_**Ah, simple pleasures…**_

"It's been so long since I've had a Balamb fish," Quistis mused, watching the fishermen lug their catches, eating her ice cream with decidedly more ease than her comrade could muster.

"They had it on the menu at that restaurant."

"It's so expensive…"

He gave her a look.

"What? Just because I have the money doesn't mean I want to blow 5,000 gil on dinner."

Grunting in reply, he ardently applied his spoon to the ice cream in an attempt to pry off another bite. It bent like a bowstring, trembled under the pressure, and finally with a sudden snap cracked in two. The handle rested in his hand and the rest remained lodged in the ice cream, impervious to the glare he was giving it.

"Why don't you set that aside and give it a chance to thaw," she advised, taking the last bite of her own cone and reaching her arms back to prop herself up, "I honestly still can't believe we're out here eating ice cream on the orders of a GF…"

"Doesn't Ifrit ever make you do weird things like this?"

She thought about it for a minute.

"Sometimes he makes me smell things…or people."

Squall chuckled, setting his ice cream down beside the broken spoon and imitating her position. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Hey, you know I was talking to Xu at lunch earlier," she finally said, "and I wanted to tell you something."

"Yeah, there's something I wanted to tell you too."

She blinked, taken aback. Maybe she wouldn't have to drag it out of him.

"Really? What's that?"

"I remembered some things the other day. Shiva somehow managed to pull them back."

"You're kidding? What did you remember?"

"Mostly you," he didn't look at her, but she felt the tips of his fingers come to rest on hers. Was it the tide, or were his legs swaying slightly in the water?

"Oh yeah? Would you tell me about it?"

He nodded, smiling faintly out at the ocean, and just like that her worries vaporized leaving her with a complete lack of will to seek them out.

_Damn you, Leonhart. How can you make me crazy with worry one minute, then tempt me into thinking all is right with the world the next?_

"Did you want to tell me something first?" he asked, finally turning to her.

"Oh…just that Xu really liked that lunch. She wants you to make it for her again sometime."

He nodded, and allowed his mind to drift back over the memories Shiva had unlocked, "You remember that big old pot Matron used to cook soup in?"

oOo

They exchanged salutes with Irvine as they traversed back, making their way towards the hulking form of the garden. As they arrived near the gate, Squall paused, turning to Quistis.

"I'll be right back," he said, jogging back in the direction of Irvine.

"The Commander returns! Back for mo-"

"I need you to get me a Balamb Fish," Squall replied quietly, cutting him off.

"Uh…what? But weren't you just in Balamb? And whaddyou want a fish for anyhow?"

Squall pressed a handful of gil into his friend's hand.

"Just pick one up and bring it back. I'll come get it from your place tomorrow."

Irvine raised an eyebrow, but finally sighed his consent.

"Fine, fine, I'll get your damn fish."

"Thanks. Make sure it's a good one."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just have Leviathan pick it out for you! Maybe call Seifer up and ask for a second opinion…"

In about a half-hour the class concluded, and Irvine dismissed the cadets.

"You all go on back yourselves. I've gotta see a man about a fish…"

o0o

A/N: Thank you for reading! There's a little homage to FFXIII in there if you really squint. In any case, know that even though I've been checked out, I've still appreciated every review and fav. It means so much to read them all. Replies coming right up…

lunavixen: I hope your reports went well (you've probably forgotten all about them by now). My essays turned out fine, and are well behind me, so a belated congrats to both of us! We both should both a SeeD rank! (If only I really made more money every time I passed a test…) Anyway, thank you for the review.

redmangobliss95: Thanks for the review! Diablos finally gets a moment to shine in this chapter, much to Ifrit's chagrin. Oh well, Ifrit clearly has an anger problem anyway. After you mentioned it I considered writing something with Seifer in it. In fact a few of the sentences in the last chapter of 'A Lifetime of Moments' were inspired by that very suggestion…

Danton: Thank you for continuing to read and review! Even just the few GFs I've been using have been fun to work with. One wonders how the others might act if Shiva, Diablos, and Ifrit would share the spotlight for five minutes…As for Squall, I am trying to make sure he remains himself, albeit a more mature, settled version of himself.

Tsukikotenshi: Glad to know someone is sympathizing with Ifrit. Poor guy is always getting overshadowed by Shiva. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I believe I am long overdue for sending you some edits. I don't know if you are still interested in writing, but I apologize for being unavailable and you need only let me know if you still want any help. I can promise I will be more regularly available from here on out.

Vocarin: Wow, thank you for reading and taking the time to write that lovely, thoughtful review. The GFs have certainly given the story its own flavor, which is funny given that their addition was initially little more than an afterthought. I'm also glad everyone is patient with and enjoying interactions with other characters. I know sometimes readers want to read about a particular person or persons and aren't so interested in others. Also, I know what you mean about the narrator's voice. I can be a bit heavy-handed with the narration and it's something I can always use a reminder to look out for. Thank you for the encouragement and the critique.


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